Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood has authorised the use of tasers in prisons for the first time to control spiralling levels of violence.
Tasers will now be deployed to highly trained specialist prison officers for extreme emergencies like hostage situations and riots.
The move follows the vicious attack on three prison officers at HMP Frankland in April by the brother of the Manchester bomber Hashem Abedi
Once triggered, the devices generate 1,500 volts of electricity to incapacitate an attacker instantly – at distance – protecting staff and other prisoners from harm.
The same model Taser is already used widely by police forces across the country. They will be deployed in high-risk scenarios in jails where there is a significant threat to safety like hostage situations and riots.
