LONDON (AP) — Britain's government has won a last-minute injunction to halt a strike by prison guards amid a dispute over pay, staffing levels and violence behind bars.

The move before Britain's High Court halts a walkout that had been set for Wednesday. The Ministry of Justice had argued the industrial action was "plainly unlawful."

Britain's prisons are under intense pressure from growing inmate numbers and staffing cuts. The prison staff union said violence and inmate suicides are rising.

Troubles have been rocking the system for months. Some 200 prisoners rioted last year at Bedford Prison in southern England, and guards staged a nationwide walkout before courts ordered them to return to work. Inmates also took control of several wings of a prison in Birmingham in a December riot.