Jail nightmare as attacks on guards soar to one every day

350 ASSAULTS BY LAGS WORST IN FIVE YEARS

- BY MARY WRIGHT

SHOCK figures reveal a prison officer was assaulted by an inmate almost every day while on duty in Scotland's increasingly violent jails.

Scottish Prison Service data shows 350 officers were attacked during 2024-25 - the highest number in five years - with critics claiming violence behind bars is spiralling out of control.

Data supplied under Freedom of Information shows 1543 officers were assaulted between 2020-21 and 2024-25. There were 313 assaults in 2023-24, 261 in 2022-23, with 294 and 325 incidents in 2020-21 and 2021-22 respectively.

According to the Prison Officers' Association, jails are the "most hostile and violent workplace of anywhere or any other occupation in the world".