A prison officers’ union in the Canaries has reiterated calls for a rethink of security provision at the Las Palmas 1 Prison in the wake of a recent serious assault on one its members.
The officer sustained injuries to the stomach and leg when he was set upon by an inmate who has been the cause of a string of violent incidents in the prison during his time there. Colleagues who rushed to the officer’s aid were also assaulted before the inmate was eventually restrained.
“He has serious mental health issues and this is not the appropriate place for him. We need proper facilities to deal with such prisoners” said a union spokesman, who urged the authorities to provide the prison with adequate resources, including a specialist mental health unit and psychiatric professionals.
The incident has also served to rekindle demands for prison offices to be treated in law as figures of authority, similar to police and other law enforcement officers, as this would mean that assaults would attract tougher sentences, which the union believes could act as a deterrent against violence in prisons.
