The prison service is to be freed from its long association with monarchy when it is incorporated into a new National Offenders Management Service in July. Prison Officers will no longer be obliged to display a crown on their uniforms when what is now know as “Her Majesty’s Prison Service” is replaced by the new agency. Offenders sent to prison will no longer be said to be sentenced at “Her Majesty’s Pleasure.”
A spokesperson for the prison officers’ trade union characterised the reform as “political correctness.” He said that prison officers would be demeaned if they were not known as servants of the Windsor family. The trade union has a long record of obstructing improvements to the management of prisons.