Riot units quell inmate unrest

Crack prison service riot units swooped on Maidstone Prison last night to quell a massive disturbance involving 40 inmates.

The large-scale incident at the Kent facility is believed to have been pre-planned and restricted to the jail’s Thanet wing.

According to intelligence gathered from the scene, staff members were targeted in an effort to take control of a hall. Ambulances and firefighters from Kent Fire and Rescue were on standby at the scene after trouble erupted in the 600-prisoner jail at 4pm.

Members of the prison service’s specially-trained Tornado Team a tactical force based across the country converged on the prison shortly after reports of disquiet began to emerge.

The situation was brought under control at around 7pm after three hours of unrest, though insiders say trouble had been brewing since midday.

Speaking last night Ralph Valerio, vice president of the Prison Officers Association, said: “A number of the establishment’s population was involved. Intelligence suggests that it was pre-determined and quite a militaristic attempt by the offenders who live on that wing to attack the staff and take control.”

Maidstone is a category C training prison that predominantly houses sex offenders from the Kent and Sussex areas. It also takes in a small number of foreign prisoners with more than 18 months to serve.

The current staff to inmate ratio at Maidstone is just 1:30, which meant warders had to retreat quickly when the rioting began.

Valerio added: “The intelligence we are getting is that the prisoners’ demands related to how often they are getting out of their cells. They are finding themselves spending more time locked up, and that means that they are getting less time to phone their family and less time to have social interaction with the staff and other prisoners.

“That can have a detrimental effect. As a trade union we have been warning about this for some time.”

Among those locked up in the prison are Kevin Hutchinson-Foster who was convicted of supplying a gun to Mark Duggan, the man whose shooting by police sparked riots across England two years ago.

It’s also housed notorious villains including Reggie Kray and Great Train Robbery Bruce Reynolds.