Falling staffing levels at county prisons are putting pressure on a 'system already in crisis', campaigners say.

It comes after new figures released by the Ministry of Justice show the number of prison staff leaving their jobs at HMP/YOI Portland and the former Verne Immigration Removal Centre left staffing levels down by as much as 10 per cent.

Figures show that 280 staff were employed at both The Verne and HMP/YOI Portland in September 2014.

However, by March 2018, this number had dropped significantly from 247 and 266 respectively, a fall of 11 and 5 per cent.

It came after a previous Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) report into the Verne in 2016 found that staffing was a significant issue.

In the report, the board said: "The board has observed, or had reported to it by prisoners and staff, innumerable examples over the year of short staffing which causes serious difficulties with the running of the establishment.

"These are exacerbated on the occasions when relatively inexperienced staff predominate on a wing."

The Verne has since closed but will reopen later this year as a prison for sex offenders; the figures reflect the time for when it operated as an immigration removal centre.

The government have also been accused by campaigners of driving a crisis in prisons after an analysis of official figures revealed the number of officers leaving the role surged from 596 in 2015/16 to 1,244 in the 12 months to March 2018 – an increase of 109 per cent.

One in 16 officers resigned last year, compared with one in 33 officers two years before and just one in 100 in 2009/10.

Joe Simpson, deputy general secretary for the Prison Officers Association (POA), said that the figures were not surprising.

He said: “There is more and more violence and more psychoactive substances. There are murders. It’s an absolute disgrace.

"Officers are having to cut people down who have decided to take their own lives; they’re having to deal with prisoners who are often extremely violent and extremely strong.

The Prison Officers Association added that they highlighted the issues of low pay and poor safety levels to explain the ongoing issues around employee recruitment and retention.

Mr Simpson continued: "The government haven’t kept up with the comparable wage outside because they don’t treat us as professionals.

"Our members are professional people doing a professional job on behalf of the public, but that’s not recognised by the government.

“The remuneration package for our members is nothing short of a disgrace, so people look at it and say this job is just not worth my mental health and leave. Some people leave the job and go into other jobs on less money in order to get out.”

In response, a Prisons Service spokesperson said: “Over the last 18 months we have recruited more than 3,000 additional prison officers to help turn offenders’ lives around.

“We are giving prison officers tools like body worn cameras to help improve safety, and are working closely with governors to improve staff retention based on the needs of each individual prison."