Prison Officers: Protective Clothing
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what stab vests are issued to prison officers.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones
Protective body armour (PBA) is currently issued in the following circumstances:
Operational Response and Resilience Unit staff wear PBA when deployed. Where necessary, ballistic protection may be required.
Operation Tornado mobilised staff are issued PBA as part of their PPE.
Prison Officers are required to wear PBA during planned use of force or when managing high-risk prisoners.
Following a violent attack at HMP Frankland in April 2025, the Ministry of Justice conducted a snap review. As a result, rollout of PBA was announced for officers working in:
Close Supervision Centres
Separation Centres
Segregation Units within the high-security estate
The rollout is ongoing and includes individual fitting to ensure maximum protection.
All body armour conforms to the Home Office 2017 standards and all versions have knife and spike resistant protection.
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