Government should pay force’s prison riot bill

POLICE and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson will ask the Government to foot the bill for the cost of police officers who were drafted in to deal with trouble at riot-hit Birmingham Prison last month.

The riot – the worst in a UK prison in more than 20 years – was discussed at a meeting of West Midlands Police’s Strategic Police and Crime Board this week.

Senior officers revealed they took the decision to deploy extra resources to the Winson Green prison after they realised trouble had escalated.

Deputy Chief Constable Louisa Rolfe said the riot was now subject to a review with the Ministry of Justice. She added that nearly all the police officers were used on perimeter with only a small number deployed inside the prison walls to support Prison Service Tornado teams in securing open spaces.

Assistant Chief Constable Alex Murray, who was in charge of the policing operation on the day, added: “We were made the aware of the initial disturbance early in the day. We saw it escalate, so we actively deployed more resources.

“We liaised with the gold command in the prison control directly and it worked very well. It was a joint decision to deploy a small number of officers inside. Most of our officers were deployed outside.”

Mr Jamieson said: “It does strike me that, as a service of last resort, the police have had to come in again. A considerable number of our officers were used in case it spilled outside. It just indicates again that we are under a lot of pressure and I will be speaking to the relevant government ministers to see what recompense can come back to us.”

G4S, which operates HMP Birmingham, said it was still too soon to put a cost on the extensive damage but the Post understands the bill could be millions of pounds, with two wings particularly badly damaged.