Riot left other jails short-staffed as 300 officers drafted in
PRISON bosses drafted in nearly 300 officers from more than 40 different prisons to deal with the Winson Green riots in Birmingham – leaving other prisons understaffed.
The December riot, the worst in a UK prison in more than 20 years, saw hundreds of prisoners cause millions of pounds of damage at the G4S-operated HMP Birmingham prison in Winson Green.
The prison shipped out nearly a third of all its inmates in the aftermath of the riots with around 500 of them moved out to 30 prisons across the country.
Now new figures obtained from a Freedom of Information request show that 280 riot-trained prison guards had to be hauled in from 40 prisons across the country, leaving other jails understaffed. Last month West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson said he would be writing to the Government to ask them to foot the bill for the cost of police officers who were also drafted in to help deal with the trouble.
Senior officers revealed that they took the decision to deploy extra resources in Winson Green Prison after they realised the trouble had escalated.
Deputy Chief Constable Louisa Rolfe said last month that nearly all the police officers were used on the perimeter with only a small number deployed inside the prison walls to support Prison Service Tornado teams in securing open spaces.
Details of the number of officers used in Birmingham came as separate figures showed the number of prison officers in post over the last year plummeting.
Labour’s Shadow Justice Secretary Richard Burgon said: “It took 280 prison officers to restore order at HMP Birmingham in December taking vital numbers away from at least 40 prisons.
“Some of those officers were two hours’ drive away when the trouble started. It’s not hard to imagine the problems which could have resulted elsewhere.”
Justice Secretary Liz Truss announced pay rises at the weekend for hard-pressed prison staff of between £3,000 and £5,000.