PRISONERS RIOT OVER XMAS TELLY!
INMATES TAKE OVER JAIL IN A PROTEST AT POOR TELLY SERVICE 400 seize control as lags show their rage
RIOTING prisoners took over one of Britain’s toughest jails yesterday – after going on the rampage in a protest over Xmas TV.
Grinning lags even sent pictures of themselves wearing riot helmets taken from guards.
HUNDREDS of rioting prisoners were last night in control of part of Britain’s third biggest jail – because their TVs didn’t work.
The violence that erupted at HMP Birmingham was said to be the worst since the infamous Strangeways riots 26 years ago. One shocked inmate at the jail where serial killer Fred West killed himself said: “I have been in riots before. This is by far the worst.”
Trouble erupted at the prison just after 9am when an officer was attacked and threatened with a used syringe before his set of staff keys were stolen.
It is believed angry inmates were provoked by a series of complaints, including problems with TV reception and a lack of hot water in the showers.
They quickly seized control of four understaffed wings as the handful of warders were overwhelmed and fled.
Some lags called a local newspaper from inside the jail to say prisoners were taking advantage of the chaos to seek violent retribution against other inmates over unsettled drugs debts.
Stabbed
One said: “Scores are being settled. They are walking on to wings and dealing with people who are in debt because of the drug Black Mamba. “Some of these people rely on prison officers and cell doors to hide behind. That protection is not there at the moment. “One has had his head bust up, one has been stabbed, and others have been beaten up.” At least one inmate suffered serious injuries while another was slashed in the neck. The rioters then smashed their way into offices where records are stored and destroyed files, hurling computers out of windows and starting fires. Ex-prisoner Alex Cavendish, who writes a blog on prison matters, said: “If they destroy all of those records it is going to take months or even years to rebuild the information.” Some gloating troublemakers posted photos online showing inmates wearing guards’ helmets and uniforms, holding staff keys and arming themselves with officers’ batons. Light fittings were smashed and fire hoses damaged, leading bosses to cut the water supply. Last night, around 400 of the prison’s total of
1,450 inmates were said to be running riot in the wings abandoned by staff.
Officers were hastily evacuated to avoid a potential hostage situation. But last night there was growing concern that if the rioting prisoners took over G wing, which houses sex offenders, “someone would be killed”.
A specialist national riot squad known as the “Tornado Team” – containing former SAS soldiers and dog teams – was facing the task of trying to quell the riot.
Official reports have recently raised increasing concerns over conditions in the jail – particularly over the amount of drugs being smuggled in. Last month a prisoner on the “detox wing” died after taking a cocktail of drugs, including banned legal high Black Mamba.
Shoplifter Dean Boland, 30, had also taken five other drugs that had not been prescribed to him.
There were also unconfirmed claims of a second recent Mambarelated death.
The tearful wife of one guard said her husband expressed fears that a riot could break out “all the time”.
She said: “Every day my husband goes to work and I am worried sick I will never see him again.”
Insiders say problems have escalated since private sector firm G4S took over HMP Birmingham, which was formerly known as Winson Green prison.
Mike Rolfe, chairman of the Prison Officers Association, said yesterday’s disorder was “another stark warning to the Ministry of Justice that the service is in crisis”.
The latest disturbance is the third in English jails in less than two months.
On November 6 a riot at Bedford prison saw up to 200 inmates on the rampage. Just days earlier, on October 29, trouble erupted at HMP Lewes in East Sussex.