Oakwood disorder was full-scale riot, claims prison officer
An Oakwood prison officer has alleged a disorder that broke out at the controversial £150 million superjail was a 'full-scale riot'.
Doors were booby-trapped during last month's trouble, which involved an entire wing of the prison being taken over, it is claimed. The allegations have been made by a prison officer who says he saw the scale of the violence first hand.
The prison – dubbed 'Jokewood' – has suffered a string of problems in recent months, with rooftop protests and damning reports among the controversies. The officer was a member of the 'tornado teams' called into the prison, in Featherstone, to subdue inmates.
He claimed: "Our briefing was that the prisoners were armed and dangerous and that it was a very large number of prisoners and they had completely taken over an entire wing of the prison. Wires had been strung as tripwires at leg level and at chest and neck level as well, to try and prevent us from moving in an orderly fashion down the wing and sort of break us as we went through.
"I would sum it up as a full-scale prison riot and we were very lucky that it only took place on one unit and didn't spread."
The officer described the prison's Cedar Wing as 'trashed' after the serious disorder, with debris and iron bars on the floor.
Justice Secretary Chris Grayling has previously described Oakwood as being the blueprint for future prisons. A prison custody officer from Oakwood also defended his colleagues, saying the staff were excellent but there were not enough of them.
He claimed: "There should be two prison officers to a wing – quite often you'll find that there is just one officer on his own, dealing with up to 60 prisoners at any one time." The claims have been made in anonymous interviews given to the BBC.
Security firm G4S, which runs the prison, said: "The trouble we experienced was concerted indiscipline by a small group of prisoners confined to one wing; it was not an issue affecting the wider prison."
