Winson Green riot: Repair bill hits £750k to replace broken locks at Birmingham prison
Thousands of locks will be replaced at Winson Green prison costing around £750,000 following the devastating riot.
Unruly prisoners took over four wings of the G4S-run jail in Birmingham on Friday smashing their way through the Victorian buildings, wrecking offices and lighting fires.
The vast majority of locks now need to be changed after a bunch of keys were taken from a prison officer.
Paper records were also destroyed in the riot, which lasted for 12 hours.
Justice Secretary Liz Truss has said G4S will cover the costs. Reports emerged yesterday the overall repairs could cost around £2 million but G4S told the Express & Star the final figure is unknown.
Spokesman Nigel Fairbrass said: "We estimate the replacement of several thousand locks across the prison will cost in the region of £750,000.
"The other big cost will be damage to the fabric of the building and some of the electrical systems.
"There will be other repairs required, which we are still assessing and do not yet have a clear estimate."
Details of repair costs emerged as former Chief Inspector of Prisons, Lord David Ramsbotham, said the riot should be investigated by an independent and outside observer.
He pointed to the 'masterly' report produced following the Strangeways riot in Manchester in 1990, in which two people died and hundreds more were injured over the course of 25 days.
Ms Truss announced earlier this week that Sarah Payne, adviser to the independent chief inspector of probation and former director of the Welsh prison service, would lead the investigation.
Lord Ramsbotham told peers: "One of the results of the riots in Strangeways was the masterly report by Lord Woolf, which led to much examination of many issues.
"Can the minister say whether or not the Government is going to consider appointing an independent and outside observer rather than the in-house person who has been appointed to examine the Birmingham troubles?"
