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Hundreds of prison workers are set to strike in protest against a dispute over health and safety.
Staff at the young offenders institute at Cookham Wood near Rochester will be among the 600 members at 49 sites across England walking out today.
It is the fourth time in two months representatives from the University and College Union (UCU) will join the picket line over claims employer Novus has "failed to address" concerns.
UCU says it has not been able to engage with Novus managers and there have been "repeated attempts by management to intimidate staff" raising complaints.
Union bosses wrote to Novus, the UK's biggest prison education employer, in January at the height of the winter Covid wave along with all other employers in the sector requesting changes to the way education in prison was being delivered during the pandemic.
The union says all providers except for Novus – which runs programmes at some of Britain's biggest prisons including Wormwood Scrubs and Pentonville – responded "positively" to requests or confirmed new measures had been established.
These included skeleton staffing, workplace bubble rotas and limiting in-person teaching.
But UCU said managers at Novus refused to meet the union and launched an investigation.
Members have alleged new and inexperienced staff have been sent onto prison wings without personal protection training, visit multiple residential units, negating attempts to create bubbles.
Mediators from the government-run reconciliation service ACAS were called in and met with Novus to iron out the dispute but investigations continued into the health and safety representatives with results not shared, the union said.
Research carried out by experts at University College London (UCL) earlier this year found Covid death rates among the prison population are three times higher than on the outside.
But the government said the work had not accounted for a lower health standard among prisoners and people being moved in and out of prison on a more regular basis.
'Continuous industrial action on this scale by prison educators is unprecedented and reflects the anger staff feel...'
Brian Hamilton, a Novus employee representing UCU members, said: "Continuous industrial action on this scale by prison educators is unprecedented and reflects the anger staff feel about the lack of care Novus has for our safety.
"At the height of the second wave, we asked to meet with management to discuss how we could adapt teaching to keep both educators and learners safe from Covid.
"Yet managers have refused to deal with our concerns in good faith, and responded by using spurious investigations to intimidate us.
"Six months on, colleagues continue to report serious Covid health and safety issues like the breakdown of workplace bubbles, a lack of personal protection training, and learners vaping in class.
"We will not let Novus continue to treat us in this way. This is now the fourth day of strike action and we are absolutely prepared to take further industrial action to protect our colleagues and learners."
UCU general secretary Jo Grady added: "For Novus to end this dispute all it needs to do is take staff safety concerns seriously and withdraw the unfair and spurious investigations it has launched against our health and safety representatives.
"Our members are hugely passionate about educating those inside prisons, but both the learner and the educator must be kept safe.
"Every other employer has been able to engage with the safety requests of staff, it’s time Novus did too."
The Prison Officers Association, which represents more than 30,000 staff working in prisons nationwide, is also backing the strike action.
National chairman Mark Fairhurst said: "Prison officers stand with Novus employees fighting for their health and safety.
"Novus should be ashamed that staff have been forced into a position where they have to go on strike to protect themselves. It now needs to resolve the dispute rather than causing further disruption for learners and prison officers."
A Novus spokesman said: "Our commitment to the health and safety of our colleagues and learners has always been our top priority and we are disappointed that despite our best efforts to resolve the dispute, industrial action by UCU continues.
"All health and safety concerns raised by colleagues are regularly reviewed and investigated and appropriate action is taken by the Group Health and Safety Managers.
"These issues are regularly discussed with union members in a recurring health and safety meeting.
"Unfortunately, despite an open invitation to join these meetings, UCU have not attended since January this year. This has materially impacted our ability to have an open dialogue with UCU on health and safety matters.
"Throughout previous industrial action there has been minimal impact to our service across all our establishments with over 90% of Novus colleagues working as usual.
"We have continued to maintain access to education for our learners at all times and have been able to deliver our usual high standard of education to the men, women and children we support.
"We remain open to discussions with UCU."
