WHAT LIFE IS LIKE
WELCOME to the jail where inmates are not in cells but in rooms with en suite facilities.
They have a TV and laptop – plus a phone so they can say goodnight to their kids.
Guards have to knock on the door before entering and are banned from using the words “prisoners”, “offenders” and “cells”.
Lags also enjoy an all-weather football pitch and state-of-the art gyms and a well-stocked library. They can also play pool for hours.
But the liberal regime at Britain’s biggest prison, HMP Berwyn in North Wales, has backfired less than 18 months after it opened.
The £212million jail near Wrexham is gripped by a drugs epidemic, daily violence and staff walkouts.
A Sunday People investigation today reveals that in its first year alone... POLICE probed 167 crimes. LAGS were hauled into 626 disciplinary meetings.
THUGS started 17 fires and launched three dirty protests.
MORE than half of prisoners were caught with smuggled mobile phones.
AN INMATE died after overdosing on Spice.
SEVERAL staff were left with lifechanging injuries from attacks.
TWENTY-EIGHT officers resigned amid fears for their safety
In recent weeks some needed surgery from assaults by inmates wielding their batons. Others were “potted” with urine and faeces.
A senior source claimed prisoners were “running” the jail that critics feared would be too soft.
The insider said: “You go easy on them they will take liberties. That’s exactly what’s happened and staff can’t control it.”
It is a far cry from the vision bosses had when they launched the Category C unit in February last year. It is the second largest jail in Europe with room for 2,100 inmates.
Governor Russ Trent, an ex-royal Marine, insisted lags lived in “rooms, not cells” and guards had to knock before entering.
It was part of a plan to make the building “truly rehabilitative” and a place that didn’t feel like jail.
“They are not prisoners, they are men,” said deputy project director Nick Dann. “If you keep calling someone an offender or ex-offender, that’s how they will act. If they start