Labour claims cover-up over prison riot inquiry Sensitive security details cannot be revealed, says minister
THE Government has been accused of covering up the findings of its inquiry into the major prison riot at HMP Birmingham.
Ministers ordered a full investigation into the riots at the prison in Winson Green after hundreds of inmates wreaked havoc in 2016.
But now the inquiry has been completed the Government is refusing to make the findings public, claiming there are security concerns.
The prison was put into lockdown in December 2016 when 240 inmates ran riot after overpowering guards.
Justice Minister Rory Stewart said: “This internal report was compiled so we could review the incident and take appropriate action, which we have now done.”
But he said the Government would not even release an edited version, with material that might compromise security removed.
He said: “The report contains indepth details of the safety and security procedures at HMP Birmingham which, if released, could compromise security arrangements at the establishment. It is not, therefore, appropriate to release any part of it and we will not be doing so.”
Mr Stewart made the statement in response to a written Parliamentary question from Richard Burgon, Labour’s Shadow Justice Secretary.
But Mr Burgon said it was “deeply concerning” that the report was being kept secret.
He told the Post: Birmingham must “The riot at HMP be a watershed moment. For that to happen we must know the hard facts about why it happened. That’s why this Government’s refusal to publish their investigation into it is deeply concerning. In my request for the report to be published I was clear that only the sections that don’t undermine secu- rity should be published. So the Government shouldn’t hide behind security as a reason not to publish. How can the public trust that this Conservative Government is learning lessons from the HMP Birmingham riot when it won’t even publish the report into what happened?”