Post date: Jan 02, 2011 4:6:16 PM
Two inquiries will be held into the New Year's Day riot at the low-security Ford prison in southern England and prisoners involved could face charges, the government says.
NEAR ARUNDEL, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (JANUARY 1, 2011) BBC/ITN - Two inquiries will be held into the New Year's Day riot at the low-security Ford prison in southern England and prisoners involved could face charges, the government said on Sunday (January 2).
Rioting prisoners torched several buildings during 22 hours of mayhem at Ford men's prison near Arundel in southern England on Saturday (January 1) that only ended when scores of riot officers were brought in.Prisoners smashed windows and started fires, forcing staff to retreat. Twelve hours after the trouble began, prisoners set fire to an accommodation block and firefighters needed the protection of scores of prison officers in riot gear to enter the prison to put out the blaze.
The riot began around midnight on New Year's Eve after prison guards attempted to breathalyse inmates suspected of drinking smuggled-in alcohol.
Prisons Minister Crispin Blunt visited the prison on Sunday (January 2). He said prisoners' communal facilities, including a gymnasium and mailroom, had been largely destroyed by fire. An accommodation building was also set ablaze.
"There are now going to be two inquiries. There will be a prison service internal inquiry and there will be a number of issues which will have to be addressed and examined in the course of that. And I also anticipate that there will be a police inquiry into the events, which could then lead to criminal prosecutions," Blunt said.
"I hope and expect there to be full co-operation by everyone in Ford prison, with all the inquiries to make sure that the perpetrators are brought to justice. This is a situation that is unprecedented, as I understand, in an open prison. And we must learn the lessons to make sure it does not recur."
The prison guards' union has said only a handful of staff were on duty at Ford at night to supervise hundreds of prisoners.
But Blunt said it was unprecedented for a riot to break out at an "open prison" like Ford, where security measures are light and inmates are trusted to behave themselves.
A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said 23 prisoners suspected of involvement in the trouble had been transferred to other more secure prisons. She said there had been a total of 487 prisoners at the jail and most were able to stay because the loss of living accommodation was slight.
She could not say how much it would cost to repair the damage.