It started with a disturbance in the prison chapel this morning. Within minutes a full-scale riot had begun. Strangeways Riot: 25 Days of Mayhem, news, Channel 5 2022
This is the story of Britain’s most brutal prison riot. Told by those who lived through it. ibid.
Britain in 1990 was a nation in turmoil. Margaret Thatcher’s government was in decline. Violent scenes rocked London as the Poll Tax riots erupted. And the criminal justice system was at breaking point. Despite a hard line from Westminster. Reported crime had almost doubled in a decade. And many of the country’s ageing prisons were full beyond capacity. ibid.
As the prison staff retreated, they left over 1,600 prisoners to fend for themselves. And many of them feared for their lives. ibid.
But whilst their parties on the roof, the evening news was reporting a darker picture of what might be happening inside the prison. ibid.
On the roof the riot had now turned into a celebration. ibid.
A wave of violence was about to break out across the whole prison system. ibid.
At Strangeways, what had begun as a riot was now a siege. ibid.
147 prison staff and 47 inmates were injured during the riot. One prisoner and one prison officer later died in hospital. Alan Lord served an additional 10 years in prison for his role in the riot. John Murray served an additional 4 years. Published in the wake of the riots, the Woolf Report led to major improvements across the prison system. Including an end to slopping out. In the time since the riot, the prison population in England and Wales has risen by 74%. ibid. captions
If you’re ever sentenced to life imprisonment the chances are you’ll be locked up here: HMP Wakefield. Here, you’ll join the worst prisoners in British criminal history. You’ll be in a cell next to the prison system’s most violent inmates. Or in solitary with a full-time murderer … Welcome to the place they call Monster Mansion. HMP Wakefield: Evil Behind Bars, Channel 5 2022
The biggest maximum security prison in the whole of western Europe. ibid. ex-screw
N.O.N.C.E = Not on Normal Courtyard Exercise. ibid. Noel Razor Smith, ex-inmate
There are miscarriages of justice in jail, seriously there are, but Jeremy Bamber is not one of them. ibid.
It’s been called Britain’s Guantanamo Bay. This concrete fortress in South-East London is Her Majesty’s Prison Belmarsh, built to keep Britain’s most dangerous criminals behind bars. Belmarsh prides itself on being able to handle any prisoner. HMP Belmarsh: Maximum Security, Channel 5 2022
Gangs in Belmarsh Causing A Rise In Violence. ibid. newspaper headline
A metal tray – slice your bloody head off. ibid. ex-con
Belmarsh is a scary place even for the hardest men. ibid.
Whether it’s ever safe to release a Cat A prisoner. ibid.
The only business bigger than phones is drugs. ibid.
If you’re ever sentenced to life in prison you could be sent to one of the most feared places you’ve never heard of: HMP Full Sutton. You won’t know where you’re going but you’ll join some of the worst inmates in British criminal history. HMP Full Sutton: Evil Behind Bars, Channel 5 2022
Home to nearly 600 convicted criminals, this is HMP Full Sutton. ibid.
Losing control would make prison officers’ jobs at Full Sutton even more challenging. ibid.
Tucked away in the countryside near the posh suburbs of Manchester is one of Britain’s most notorious places: HMP Styal. A prison which may look like a village but it’s far from it. Here, you’ll join the worst women in Britain, the real bad girls. You’ll be living alongside women who kill their own children. You’ll be in a wing full of drug dealers and drug addicts. HMP Styal: Women Behind Bars, Channel 5 2022
Home to around 400 female convicted criminals, this is HMP Styal … A prison like no other … ‘The most challenging place that I have ever worked, in terms of the complexity, the instances of violence, self-harm, the emotional distress …’ ibid. ex-Screw
Drugs are in high demand and they’re valuable so there will always be the potential for violence. ibid.
HMP Styal has become known for its unprecedented number of deaths behind its bars. ibid.
If you’re a murderer, a terrorist or a rapist this is the perfect place for you. HMP Frankland. You’ll be banged up with some of the most sadistic criminals in Britain. Or walk the corridors with a triple killers. You might even come face to face with a man who has murdered children. Inside Monster Mansion aka HMP Frankland: Evil Behind Bars, Channel 5 2022
In the beautiful countryside of County Durham lies a high-security prison: HMP Frankland. Built in 1983 Frankland has been expanded three times, and now its sprawling wings house 840 prisoners. Nobody has ever escaped from Frankland. ibid.
Today 1,723 IPP prisoners are still behind bars. ibid.
A brand new prison: Pentonville opened in 1842. The Secret History of our Streets III: Caledonian Road, BBC 2012
The Pope closed down a lot of the factories that were making potatoes and turned them into prisons for children. Father Ted s2e7: Rock-a-Hula Ted, pop star on TV, Channel 4 1996
Strangeways: one of the largest high-security prisons in the country. For nearly 150 years this notorious building has imprisoned some of our toughest prisoners. Inside ... s1e4: Strangeways Prison, Channel 5 2017
The battleground for the biggest prison riot in British history. ibid.
Female prisoners were held at Strangeways until 1963. ibid.
More and more prisoners had been crammed into Strangeways. ibid.
Inmates in 20 prisons protested in solidarity. ibid.
Strangeways would find itself in the grip of a deadly new drug … Drones were ferrying in synthetic drugs. ibid.
Making Harold Shipman Britain’s most prolific serial killer … Four years later he committed suicide in his cell. ibid.
Wormwood Scrubs: one of Britain’s most famous prisons. From Pete Docherty to Keith Richards, it’s locked up the country’s ultimate rock star rebels. And it’s been home to some of the country’s most dangerous inmates. Over its 140 year history, Wormwood Scrubs has gone from the best prison in the country to one of its most notoriously violent. Inside ... s2e2: Wormwood Scrubs, Channel 5 2018
Two decades later, Wormwood Scrubs welcomed one inmate who was feared by all: Charles Bronson, Britain’s most dangerous prisoner. ibid.
Pentonville, Strangeways, Wandsworth: these huge prisoners were built to strike fear into the minds of the prisoners. And inside these prisons the Victorians made sure life was as punishing as possible for the inmates. When they weren’t kept in complete isolation, they were forced to do gruelling repetitive labour in total silence. ibid.
Wormwood Scrubs: Four wings now house almost 1,400 inmates. And its huge entrance gate has become an iconic site. ibid.
The Cat-o-nine tails: prisoners have described it as the worst pain they have ever endured … Flogging was abolished. ibid.
George Blake: Britain’s greatest ever traitor … For the past decade Blake had been feeding top secret information to the Soviets. He had betrayed the names of hundreds of British spies, resulting in many being imprisoned and executed. ibid.
‘You can smell the jail. And it’s nothing like you’re ever smelled before.’ Britain’s Notorious Prisons s1e1: Strangeways, former inmate, ITV 2023
For more than 150 years, Strangeways Prison in Manchester has housed some of the UK’s most dangerous convicts.
‘It was a Screw’s nick. The bullies ruled the roost.’ ibid. Former inmate
And for the most brutal riot in the UK prison history. ibid.
‘A violent filthy anything-goes routine.’ ibid. former inmate
Michael Howard’s speech to the Tory Party conference in 1993 signalled a challenge to Lord Woolf’s Strangeways Report. Iibid.
From 1993 onwards there was an exponential growth of the prison population. ibid.