PRISON officers have exposed an “epidemic of violence” in Britain’s jails — and placed the blame squarely with the government in the run up to a meeting with the Ministry of Justice.

Six years of funding cuts and privatisation have seen numbers of assaults on staff, violence among inmates and incidents of self-harm, suicides and murders at an all-time record high.

Justice Secretary Liz Truss has finally agreed to meet leaders of the Prisoner Officers’ Association (POA), after the union planned demonstrations outside prisons against government inaction.

POA vice-chairman Ralph Valerio said: “Quite frankly, we are running out of time to save our prison service. 

“Government inertia is a great cause of the violence epidemic that is sweeping our prisons.”

And POA national chair POA Mike Rolf warned jails are dangerous for officers and prisoners alike.

He told BBC Radio 4’s World at One: “It’s a bloodbath in prisons at this minute in time. Staff are absolutely on their knees, lost all morale, all motivation.”

Levels of violence in prisons have reached a new high, with 65 assaults recorded every day. In the year to June, assaults on staff increased by 43 per cent to 5,954, with 697 recorded as serious.

Around 25 per cent of prison officers have been made redundant since 2010.

Ms Truss, who recently announced an additional £14 million for more than 400 extra staff in prisons, is expected to announce new measures for prison reform.