Sadiq Khan MP, Labour’s Shadow Justice Secretary, commenting on the government’s announcement of tougher measures on prison violence said:

“Cracking down on violence in jails is to be welcomed. Crimes are crimes even when committed behind bars and violence in jails shouldn’t be tolerated any less than it is outside prisons. But this announcement does nothing to deal with the causes of the surge in violence and deaths in prison on David Cameron’s watch.  This Tory-led government’s policies of demoralised prison officers and prison overcrowding has done nothing to help the situation.”