Jails on alert as prisoners detonate milk powder bomb

PRISONERS made an improvised bomb in jail using tea and coffee whitener from the canteen, it has emerged.

The device “erupted” inside Cardiff Prison but no one was injured. Four inmates were arrested over the incident, which happened on June 15, but three have since been cleared while a fourth is still under investigation.

Bethan Jenkins, a Welsh Assembly member, said: “I was informed by a staff member that prisoners recently made a bomb out of tea whiteners, which are very flammable.”

She said it could have led to inmates taking control of the jail that holds 800 prisoners and has written to Sam Gyimah, the Prisons Minister, to warn of the threat.

“I was told that if they rose up, they would be able to take over in less than 10 minutes, and that this was close to actually happening. The staff member implied they were very short staffed.”

South Wales Police said a bottle containing an unknown liquid “erupted and slid across the floor” but it “was a minor incident”.

Mark Fairhurst, acting chairman of the Prison Officers Association, called for the withdrawal of whiteners if they were the cause of the blast.

He said: “Coffee whiteners need to be withdrawn and replaced by cartons of milk – that can’t be too difficult.”

He blamed the incident on cuts in the prison staff leading to a curtailment of activities and facilities for prisoners such as education workshops and restrictions on visiting by families.

“Boredom among prisoners breeds mischief and this is what happens.”