{"id":7543,"date":"2026-08-17T12:05:04","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T11:05:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prisonersadvice.org.uk\/wordpress\/?p=7543"},"modified":"2026-08-17T12:05:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T11:05:07","slug":"tasers-ultimately-never-fired-during-first-nine-months-of-prison-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prisonersadvice.org.uk\/wordpress\/2026\/08\/17\/tasers-ultimately-never-fired-during-first-nine-months-of-prison-trial\/","title":{"rendered":"TASERS ULTIMATELY NEVER FIRED DURING FIRST NINE MONTHS OF PRISON TRIAL"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tasers were deployed five times but were never fired during the first nine months of a trial of their use in prisons, BBC South East has reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The five incidents were said to have taken place between July 2025 and April 2026 at four prisons across England: HMP\u2019s Lewes, High Down, Bullingdon and Featherstone. According to the BBC report, the weapons were drawn from officers\u2019 holsters \u201con a number of occasions\u201d, and at two jails officers went as far as aiming the red dot of light at a prisoner, to serve as a warning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the limited trial, only&nbsp;20 specialist staff from the Operational Response and Resilience Unit (ORRU) \u2013 a national team under HM Prison and Probation Service which handles high-risk incidents \u2013 have had access to Tasers for use in complex incidents such as hostage situations and barricades.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Government has said it is experimenting with Tasers in prisons in England and Wales as part of a \u00a315 million investment in protective equipment, which also includes increasing provision of body armour for staff. It has said the electric stun-guns will be rolled out to 500 prison officers to reduce violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tom Wheatley, President of the Prison Governors\u2019 Association, commented \u201cin the future, it is likely that we\u2019ll see staff routinely deployed in some prisons with access to Tasers, which would enable them to react to the most serious incidents quickly, and hopefully bring them to a safe conclusion without anybody getting hurt\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Andrew Neilson, Director of Campaigns at the Howard League for Penal Reform, has, however, warned that the move could escalate tensions in prisons:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe answer is not more weapons. It is ensuring that prisons offer stable and productive regimes that get people out of their cells and into purposeful activities, and doing more to address the overcrowding that has put jails under intolerable pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For further information,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/insidetime.org\/newsround\/tasers-deployed-but-not-fired-in-prison-trial\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><u>click here.<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tasers were deployed five times but were never fired during the first nine months of a trial of their use [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Amelie","author_link":"https:\/\/prisonersadvice.org.uk\/wordpress\/author\/amelie\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Tasers were deployed five times but were never fired during the first nine months of a trial of their use 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