Thousands of prison officers will receive a pay rise in a new drive to boost staffing levels as the Government attempts to address the jail safety crisis.
Frontline personnel in London and the South East will earn up to £5,000 more under a £12 million package announced by Justice Secretary Liz Truss.
The cash injection comes as ministers attempt to improve recruitment and retention of staff amid surging levels of violence behind bars in England and Wales.
Union chiefs have repeatedly warned of low morale across the service, while figures released earlier this week showed a new fall in officer numbers last year.
The new package will see pay improved for guards at jails where recruitment has proved most difficult.
Staff at 31 establishments including Pentonville, Wormwood Scrubs and Belmarsh will see their annual pay increase by between £3,000 and £5,000.
New recruits will also receive higher starting salaries of up to £29,500 - a rise of £5,000 on the current level.
The pay boosts will vary depending on how acute the recruitment difficulties are at the jail in question.
Ms Truss said: "Prison officers do a challenging and demanding job day in and day out.
"I want frontline staff to know that their work, experience and loyal service is valued.
"We also want to attract the best new talent into the service, ensuring we recruit and retain the leaders of the future.
"These hard-working, dedicated staff are key to delivering our ambitious reform agenda, and it is right that we offer them greater support as we move ever closer to transforming prisons into places of safety and reform."
The move comes weeks after Ms Truss announced a national recruitment drive to add 2,500 officers as part of her wide-ranging prison reform agenda.
Dwindling staffing levels have been highlighted as assaults, self-harm and suicides all soared to record levels, while a spate of major disturbances has erupted in jails.
On Thursday official figures revealed the number of personnel in key operational roles in public sector prisons in England and Wales fell by more than 300 to 17,888 last year.
The leaving rate - the percentage of staff with a permanent contract of employment who left for reasons other than voluntary early departure schemes and redundancy - has almost doubled since 2012/13.
As well as the announcement on pay, the Ministry of Justice said thousands of new learning and development opportunities will be made available to staff nationwide.
They will also be given specialist training in mental health and self-harm prevention.