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The President of the Prison Governors Association says staff shortages may have contributed to the increase in the numbers of suicides, self harm and assaults in prisons.

Andrea Albutt was talking to Radio 4's World at One as data published from the Ministry of Justice showed a rise in violence in prisons with 26,643 assaults this year - 20% more than the previous year. A record 7,159 of those being attacks on staff - equivalent to 20 every day.

Ms Albutt said that the increase in violence and self harm since 2012 coincided with the loss of 7,000 officers, and currently "we have significant retention issues".

(Photo: Prison cell in Reading prison Credit: Getty images)