Mike Rolfe

Mike Rolfe
Personal details
BornMichael Rolfe
1978 (age 47–48)
Barnehurst, London, England
Party
OccupationTrade union official, prison officer
Known for
National chair of the POA (2016–2017)

Michael Rolfe (born 1978) is a British former trade union official who served as national chair of the POA, the union representing prison officers and related grades of staff in the United Kingdom, until May 2017. He stood as a parliamentary candidate at the 2017 general election and later founded the Criminal Justice Workers Union.

Career

Rolfe became a prison officer at HM Prison Elmley in 2004.[citation needed]

In May 2013 he set up a Facebook page called "Know The Danger" (KTD), at a time when the prison system was undergoing major restructuring.[citation needed] He became a prominent commentator on prison conditions during the latter part of 2016, appearing on BBC News at Ten and other news outlets, and speaking about disturbances at prisons including Bedford, Wormwood Scrubs and Swaleside.

He was 38 when he took over as national chair of the POA, making him one of the youngest trade union leaders in the United Kingdom.[citation needed] He stepped down from the position on 3 May 2017.

In April 2020, Rolfe founded the Criminal Justice Workers Union (CJWU), a union for prison staff.

Political career

Rolfe stood in the 2013 Kent County Council election for the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition in the Sheppey division, finishing fifth.[citation needed]

He was selected as the Labour candidate for the Sittingbourne and Sheppey constituency at the 2017 general election, held on 8 June 2017. He finished second to the sitting Conservative MP Gordon Henderson, taking 15,700 votes.

In August 2019, Rolfe resigned as the constituency's prospective Labour candidate and left the party, saying he was at odds with the Labour leadership over Brexit and describing its messaging on the issue as disjointed. In November 2019 he joined the Conservative Party, saying that Henderson had raised issues on behalf of prison staff and had kept an open door to union representatives.

References

  1. 1 2 "Resignation of National Chair Mr Mike Rolfe". poauk.org.uk. 3 May 2017. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  2. ↑ "Specialist officers called to Lewes prison to control six-hour riot at notorious jail once described as 'worse than Syria'". The Independent. 29 October 2016. Archived from the original on 14 May 2022.
  3. ↑ "Two wings out of action – but Bedford prisoners did not turn violent". ITV News. 7 November 2016.
  4. ↑ "Swaleside prison: Sixty inmates take control of wing and light fires". The Independent. December 2016.
  5. ↑ "Coronavirus Kent: New Criminal Justice Workers Union for prison staff set up by Sheppey officers". KentOnline. April 2020.
  6. 1 2 "Former Labour candidate for Sittingbourne and Sheppey, Mike Rolfe, defects to Conservative Party". KentOnline. November 2019.
  7. ↑ "Brexit: Mike Rolfe quits as Sittingbourne and Sheppey Labour Party candidate in disagreement with Jeremy Corbyn". KentOnline. 21 August 2019.