Rioting prisoners set fire to British jail

ARUNDEL (England), Jan 1: Rioting prisoners torched buildings at a low-security British jail on Saturday, an incident the prison guards’ union said highlighted the risks of government plans to slash spending on the justice system.

About 40 prisoners took part in rioting at Ford prison near Arundel, southern England, that began around midnight (GMT) on New Year’s Eve, the Prison Service said.

More than 12 hours later, scores of prison officers in riot gear escorted two fire engines into the prison to protect firefighters while they fought a blaze consuming a wooden accommodation block in the sprawling rural prison.

Television footage showed several other recreation buildings turned to charred rubble by fires lit during the night.

The trouble started when prisoners began smashing windows and starting fires, forcing staff to retreat, the Prison Service said. There were no reports of injuries to staff or prisoners, it said in a statement.

Around 140 extra prison guards were brought in to quell the trouble, it said. One of two affected wings had been brought back under the authorities’ control.

A Prison Service source said there would be an investigation later into the cause of the riot.

Ford is an “open prison” where inmates are not generally confined to individual cells and may work outside. Several hundred prisoners are believed to be housed there.

Mark Freeman, deputy general secretary of the Prison Offic ers’ Association, the prison guards’ trade union, said the trouble began when guards tried to breathalyse some prisoners suspected of drinking alcohol and they refused.

Freeman sought to link the incident to public spending cuts that Britain’s coalition government has embarked on to cut a budget deficit of around 10 per cent of national output.

“We understand management have been trying to reduce the amount of prison officers working here (at Ford) and I think that this should be a stark reminder of just how dangerous even open-prison condition prisoners can be,” he told Sky News.

“We say we are 1,000 prison officers short and yet they (the government) want to look to make people redundant over the next few years,” he said.

The Ministry of Justice, responsible for prisons, must cut spending by an average of 6 per cent a year over the next few years.The Prison Officers’ Association is fighting the plans, which it says will endanger its members’ health and safety.