A police officer is critically ill in hospital after being stabbed in the chest by a prison inmate.
The officer, who is from Greater Manchester Police, was attacked at Frankland Prison in Durham just after 11am on Tuesday, Durham Police said.
Land and air crews rushed to the notorious prison to help him and he was taken to hospital in a critical condition.
A spokesman for Durham Police said: ‘Shortly after 11am this morning, Durham Constabulary were called to an incident at HMP Frankland in Durham City.
‘A police officer, who was visiting the facility from an outside force, suffered a stab wound to the chest during the incident.
‘The injured officer has been taken to hospital by ambulance, where he is described as being “conscious and talking”.’
Dozens of assaults have occurred inside HMP Frankland this past year, one of Britain’s most high-security jails.
Logs seen by Metro show inmates, some armed with makeshift weapons, attacked other prisoners, guards and staff in the 12 months up to the end of January this year.
In one disturbing incident, a prisoner launched an unprovoked assault on an officer using two improvised weapons, leaving him with multiple injuries.
Makeshift weapons including blades were used in a number of the 140 assaults which were recorded at the Category A jail in the village of Brasside, County Durham.
HMP Frankland holds more than 800 men, including a high number of convicted murderers, rapists and terrorists.
This has seen the jail dubbed ‘monster mansion’ because it has housed some of the UK’s most notorious criminals over the years.
In one of the most serious outbreaks of violence, a prisoner assaulted another inmate by battering him over the head with a claw hammer in a workshop toilet, a log shows.
The attack was reportedly perpetrated by Damien Bendall, who is serving a whole life term for murdering his partner Terri Harris, 35, her daughter Lacey Bennett, 11, her son John Paul Bennett, 13, and Lacey’s friend Connie Gent, also 11, in Killamarsh, Derbyshire, in 2021.
Other infamous inmates at the prison include former police officer Wayne Couzens, who kidnapped, raped and murdered Sarah Everard in 2021.
Serial killer Levi Bellfield, who murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler, Marsha McDonnell and Amelie Delagrange, is also housed there.
Double murderer and necrophiliac David Fuller appeared via videolink from the jail for his trial for sexually abusing bodies in 2022
Liberian war criminal Charles Taylor, who is serving a 50-year sentence, is another notorious Frankland resident, as is Ian Huntley, who murdered 10-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in 2002.
An investigation by Metro revealed 150 assaults had taken place over 12 months at the jail in 2023.
HMP Frankland is part of a public sector jail estate, which campaigners say is under pressure from overcrowding and run-down facilities.
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