The use of Tasers in prisons will be tried after the guards were wise by the brother of the Bombardero Manchester Arena, said the Secretary of Justice.
The Association of Prison Officers (POA) had asked the guards to access electric power guns in the light of the use of improvised weapons by Hashem Abedi to attack HMP staff Frankland, a high security prison in Durham County.
Shabana Mahmood told the commons on Tuesday: “Wherever we can strengthen our defenses, to better protect our staff and the public, we will do it.”
However, the president of PoA, Mark Fairhurst, told the BBC that he did not believe that a trial was necessary and asked that his use be implemented “before one of my members is killed.”
Three guards received hospital treatment after the attack of April 12. One remains in the hospital in a stable condition, while two others have disarmed from the leg.
At the time of the attack, Abedi was a hero in a separation wing used to house the most dangerous and extremist prisoners.
However, he had access to a kitchen, where he was able to heat the kitchen oil and fashion weapons with the equipment that used to assault the guards.
After urgent action calls to maintain the safer prison staff, Mahmood confirmed that HM prison and probation service would begin a judgment on the use of electric guns, although it had no details about its scope or duration.
She said that a separate independent review of the attack “would determine how this incident could occur, what should be done to protect prison staff and, more widely, how the spoats centers are executed.”
Mahmood has previously ordered a “rapid review” on the use of the armor of the protective body for prison staff.
She paid tribute to the “courage of the officers involved that day”, which said “undoubtedly saved lives.”
Fairhurst, who will meet with the Secretary of Justice on Wednesday, said the attack had been a clear indication that the officers faced an urgent danger and disputed the need for a period of trial before the prison staff accessed electric weapons.
“The police force has used this team for years, we know it is effective,” he said.
Fairhurst said the equipment must be implemented in all high security facilities and use special trains staff. He continued: “If not, our lives are at stake.”
Currently, prison officers can only carry a pepper spray and extendable synthetic baton.
Abedi, who helped his older brother Salman to plan the 2017 Manchester sand bombing, was imprisoned for life with a minimum of 55 years in prison after being convicted of murdering 22 people.
He had been transferred to Frankland after carrying out an earlier attack against prison officers in the Belmarsh prison in London in 2020, so he added three years and 10 months to his sentence.
After the last attack against the staff, he was transferred again to Belmarsh.
