Triple child-killer Axel Rudakubana's prison supervision was downgraded just weeks before he attacked a prison guard with scalding water at Belmarsh prison.
The 18-year-old Southport murderer was previously monitored round the clock after being placed on a self-harm prevention plan in the healthcare unit at the high-security prison in London.
But Thursday night's alleged assault occurred approximately two weeks after prison officials reduced his monitoring status.
Rudakubana had been housed in the healthcare unit where prisoners at high risk of suicide or self-harm receive enhanced monitoring.
Axel Rudakubana had been housed in the healthcare unit where prisoners at high risk of suicide or self-harm receive enhanced monitoring
CPSStaff there typically check on inmates at "non-regular" intervals and engage in conversations to assess their self-harm risk.
"Rudakubana was in the healthcare unit under 24/7 monitoring but this was downgraded in the last couple of weeks," a source told The Sun.
And Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick has called the decision to downgrade Rudakubana's supervision a "major security failure".
"It is ludicrous that the most dangerous and unrepentant prisoners are being given luxuries, like access to kettles, in top-security prisons," he said.
"The right of our prison officers to do their job safely is infinitely more important than the right of these sick criminals to have a cup of tea."
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Robert Jenrick has called the decision to downgrade Rudakubana's supervision a 'major security failure'
PARudakubana was allowed a kettle in his cell, which he is believed to have used in the attack on the prison officer.
The incident came just a month after Manchester Arena bomb plotter Hashem Abedi injured four prison officers at HMP Frankland by throwing boiling butter at them and attacking them with a knife.
Abedi, 28, is now also in Belmarsh - though he is housed in its High Security Unit.
Prison Officers' Association boss Mark Fairhurst has questioned why Rudakubana was given the same privileges as other inmates.
"We have to base everything on risk and don't give access to things with which they can attack staff," he said.
While former prison governor Ian Acheson added that an attack like this was "probably more likely on a lowered-risk staggered watch, where he would be checked at random times".
Rudakubana was sentenced to life in prison in January with a minimum term of 52 years, though he is unlikely to ever be released.
Manchester Arena plotter Hashem Abedi, 28, is now also in Belmarsh - though he is housed in its High Security Unit
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Officials decided he did not meet the criteria for the High Security Unit in their most recent assessment.
It remains unclear if he has ever been held in the HSU, a "prison within a prison" with 48 single cells which are said not to contain kettles.
The prison officer who was targeted in the attack was taken to the nearby Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich - and is expected to return to work next week.
The Prison Service said: "Violence in prison will not be tolerated, and we will always push for the strongest possible punishment for attacks on our hard-working staff."
The Metropolitan Police has meanwhile confirmed it is investigating "a serious assault" at HMP Belmarsh on May 8.
