Legal News

An investigation has been launched into prisoner unrest at HMP Northumberland, after inmates took over a wing of the prison at the weekend.

Around 50 prisoners took over the wing at the Acklington prison at around 7.30pm on Friday evening, local publisher ChronicleLive.co.uk reports.

The incident involved a stand off between prisoners and guards, after inmates refused to return to their cells.

Running of the Category C jail was taken over last year by private company Sodexo. The jail houses 1,350 inmates but plans to cut 200 staff were announced last year. Sodexo has a 15-year contract to run the jail and has claimed it will save the taxpayer £129 million.

A spokesman for Sodexo said:

“We can confirm there was a disturbance at HMP Northumberland. It was confined to part of one wing of the prison and has been resolved. We will carry out an investigation into this incident.”

Local MP Ian Lavery has raised the issue of privatising prison services with the Justice Secretary Chris Grayling.

Mr Lavery – who is MP for Wansbeck – said:

“Her Majesty’s Prison Northumberland was privatised on 1 December, 2013. In the four months since, there have been 180 redundancies – nearly a third of the workforce has been released.

“Is the Secretary of State confident that HMP Northumberland is a safe place for prisoners and staff?”

In response, the Justice Secretary admitted that the Ministry of Justice was “having to take difficult decisions” about staffing levels across UK prisons.

Mr Grayling said:

“I have not pursued a privatisation strategy across the prison system, but accepted the recommendations of the Prison Governors Association and others – and the benchmarking programme that we are putting in place across the prison system was recommended in-house by the public sector team.

“I am confident that every one of our prisons is a safe place to detain prisoners.”

The general secretary of the Prison Officers’ Association Steven Gillan confirmed to BBC News, however, that there had been a stand off between prisoners and prison officers at the jail on Friday.

“We do not know what has sparked this major incident,” said Mr Gillan. “But I do know that 50 inmates have taken over a wing.

“We have teams from other establishments trained to deal with riots on their way. There is concerted indiscipline and our officers will try to contain it.”

It was reported police were standing by to help with containing the disturbance at the prison, which was contained on Friday evening.

Built 40 years’ ago, HMP Northumberland was established in 2011, after the merger of two other jails in the area – Acklington and Castington.

Category C jails house prisoners who are thought unlikely to try to escape, but who cannot be trusted in an open prison environment. HMP Northumberland houses sex offenders among its Category C prisoners.

Duncan Lewis Crime Lawyers

Duncan Lewis crime lawyers regularly visit police stations, courts and prisons – and can advise on prisoners’ rights.

Duncan Lewis crime lawyers are available 24/7, 365 days a year and can help prisoners gain access to health services and mental health services – as well as advising on sentencing appeals and applications to the Parole Board.

For expert help with prisoner rights – including breaches of prisoner rights under the European Convention on Human Rights – contact Duncan Lewis crime lawyers on 020 7923 4020.