Jail staffing levels to be reviewed after riot

STAFFING levels at an open prison which saw just two officers and four support staff in charge of 500 inmates on the night of an “unprecedented” riot will be reviewed, British prisons minister Crispin Blunt said yesterday.

Blunt, who spent two hours talking to staff and inmates at Ford prison near Arundel, West Sussex, following the New Year’s Day rampage, said the Prison Service inquiry will need to consider whether the violence could be repeated.

The suitability of the inmates being held at Ford, as well as the prisoners’ access to alcohol, will also need to be examined in the wake of the violence which saw communal areas of the jail destroyed, Blunt said.