While Keir Starmer faces criticism for allegedly appeasing big tech firms over online safety, a different kind of violence is surging in Britain's prisons. The people we rely on to keep dangerous criminals locked up are getting beaten up at twice the rate they were just one year ago.

Assaults on prison staff by inmates jumped 108.6% in 2023, from 35 incidents in 2022 to 73 assaults last year. (Source: Ministry of Justice, Safety in Custody -- safety-in-custody-assaults-dec-23 -- 3_2_Assaults_by_role)

That's more than one prison officer attacked every five days. These aren't scuffles or verbal altercations. These are recorded assaults serious enough to make it into official statistics.

The timing couldn't be more stark. As Westminster debates whether social media companies are doing enough to protect users online, the physical safety of those protecting society offline has quietly collapsed. Prison officers now face double the risk they did 12 months ago of being punched, kicked, or worse by the people they're paid to supervise.

This isn't just about numbers on a spreadsheet. Every one of those 73 assaults represents a prison officer who went to work to do their job and got hurt for it. Someone who signed up to maintain order in one of society's most challenging environments, only to find that environment becoming twice as dangerous in a single year.

The surge raises uncomfortable questions about what's happening inside Britain's prisons. Are overcrowding and staff shortages creating powder kegs? Are inmates becoming more violent, or are officers being forced into situations they're not equipped to handle?

Prison officers already face one of the toughest jobs in public service. They deal with people who, by definition, society has decided need to be kept away from the rest of us. The work is dangerous on a good day. When assault rates double, it becomes something else entirely.

The doubling of attacks also highlights a gap in political priorities. MPs can spend hours debating online harms and corporate responsibility for digital safety. But when the people keeping our streets safe by keeping criminals locked up face escalating violence, the response is silence.

These 73 assaults happened to real people with families, mortgages, and reasons to come home safe each night. They took jobs knowing the risks, but those risks weren't supposed to double overnight.

While politicians chase headlines about tech regulation, prison officers are getting punched. The contrast says everything about where Britain's safety priorities really lie.