HMP Birmingham

[scorza]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-38341924

Inmates in control of two wings at the G4S run prison. Wasn't there a prison guard who used to post here? Seem to recall him warning that this sort of thing was likely to happen, though I think he worked somewhere in Hampshire and not Birmingham.

 

[Brizzles]

Hopefully, go in hard and crush it.

No bleating about human rights and negotiating.

 

[Harlequin]

Hopefully, go in hard and crush it.

No bleating about human rights and negotiating.

at which point human rights lawyers step in and sue G4S , the government and everyone else - including you.

that's why the UK has human rights since magna carta

 

[Dis86]

at which point human rights lawyers step in and sue G4S , the government and everyone else - including you.

that's why the UK has human rights since magna carta

For human rights lawyers to make a killing defending animals?
Certainly differs from what I was taught in history.

 

[helpimcrap]

makes me laugh 'poor conditions'. It's a prison not a holiday camp!

 

[Harlequin]

For human rights lawyers to make a killing defending animals?
Certainly differs from what I was taught in history.

Is that the same school where creationism is taught then.....

 

[Mynight]

Probably do a better job of running it than G4S .


Hopefully it's resolved quickly without injury.

 

[Brizzles]

at which point human rights lawyers step in and sue G4S , the government and everyone else - including you.

that's why the UK has human rights since magna carta

I'm also old enough to have seen the earlier prison riots catch on.

In now, quash it, yesterdays chip paper.

 

[diamount]

makes me laugh 'poor conditions'. It's a prison not a holiday camp!

Sounds like the average comment posted on a Daily Mail article.

 

[DaleTheWhale]

They've started a fire in there now, video looks to be from an inmate doing the rounds on facebook.

Been bound to happen in Winson Green for a while tbf, it's in the hands of the Prison Guard now as well, G4S had to hand over, WMP are surrounding the prison for reassurance too.

 

[helpimcrap]

Sounds like the average comment posted on a Daily Mail article.

Well, they have better conditions in there than any homeless person outside and they are being 'punished'. Admittedly there are basic living conditions and that is all that is needed.

This says if you want 2 meals a day and a warm bed go and commit a crime but make sure you get caught....

Category B so not exactly boy scouts.

 

[scorza]

Hearing rumours that the trouble started when prisoners with medical conditions weren't getting their medication - insulin for diabetes was specifically mentioned.

Government Tornado troops are trying to regain control, but I'm hearing that the prisoners are throwing buckets of paint at them so they can't see through their helmets.

 

[helpimcrap]

TBH though I've dealt with G4S a lot in last 10 years. They couldn't organise a **** up in a brewery.

 

[diamount]

Well, they have better conditions in there than any homeless person outside and they are being 'punished'. Admittedly there are basic living conditions and that is all that is needed.

This says if you want 2 meals a day and a warm bed go and commit a crime but make sure you get caught....

Category B so not exactly boy scouts.

The grievances seem to be:

1. Locked up mostly 24/7
2. Suicides are common and the dead prisoner can easily be seen.
3. 2 prison officers per 4 floors
4. Freely available drugs, which makes stir crazy prisoners even worse.

With the prison being run by a private entity, you can see even more cost cutting measures in place. There are 38 category B prisons and generally don't riot, or have as many disturbances.

 

[John40]

I started as a prison officer at Winson Green at aged 18 and it was a cracking prison, real old school like all of the Victorian jails. Firm but fair and the prisoners by and large liked it as they knew where they stood.
When private prisons started appearing they were able to keep costs lower per prisoner place by paying lower wages, worse holidays and conditions and having terrible shift patterns.
By basically giving prisoners more goodies they were more subdued so staff could be cut even more, prisoners like private jails as they're very lax and left to their own devices by bribery.
But since then in the public sector there has been a concerted effort by all Governments to get rid of older and more expensive staff to be replaced by rookies.
The original plan was to turn virtually every prison outside the high security estate into a private jail but this has been delayed with the system in crisis.

The old adage that there are no votes in prisons is very true so cuts and more cuts has been the way things have been going for some years now.
Staff morale is lower then ever and I think we're going to get more and more of these riots and it's very difficult to change things quick enough to make a difference.
Staff assaults have gone through the roof and staff are leaving quicker than they can be replaced so things are not good.

 

[byeo]

Been going on since 9am...

Time to send in the SAS a la the Iranian Embassy Siege

 

[B&W]

A lot of smoke in cells due to fires, they need to get it under control fast.

This is what happens when you lock up people for 23 hours and treat them like animals.

 

[Killerg]

Prison is a joke, thats why people dont care about going to prison. TV, PS4 and pool tables, soundsl ike a freaking holiday camp!!!

 

[datalol-jack]

G4S? Say no more!

'We can do more with less.'

 

[Dis86]

A lot of smoke in cells due to fires, they need to get it under control fast.

This is what happens when you lock up people for 23 hours and treat them like animals.

What, they show their true colours and act like them?