Inmates trash prison wing in fury over smoking ban

PRISONERS took over a jail wing and launched a wrecking spree after being banned from smoking.

Chanting ‘we want burn’ – a slang term for tobacco – inmates refused to return to their cells and caused tens of thousands of pounds worth of damage at HMP Birmingham. Riot squads were dispatched to the Category B and C jail on Sunday night and the disturbance was brought under control after seven hours.

A tobacco ban has been introduced in stages at the jail, run by private company G4S, with prisoners being made to go smoke-free at the end of July.

Ministers brought in the smoking ban in January last year and it will eventually be in place at all 136 state-run prisons in England and Wales, despite fears from governors about prisoner unrest.

The Government acted after a series of legal challenges from prison officers and inmates who complained about passive smoking. The ban has already led to a number of disturbances at prisons across the country. Last month, anti-riot units were called in when violence broke out at HMP Haverigg in Cumbria after inmates staged a protest at the ban.

Prison sources said anger over the ban, aggravated by some convicts using socalled ‘legal highs’ such as spice, also led to Sunday’s disturbance at the 1,450 capacity HMP Birmingham.

Around ten inmates on the prison’s A Wing were behind the trouble, trashing sinks, discharging fire extinguishers and flooding cells. Last December a riot at the same prison caused £2million of damage.

A G4S spokesman said the unrest was ‘brought to a safe conclusion’ at around 11.45pm on Sunday. He added: ‘No staff or prisoners were injured the rest of the establishment was unaffected.’