Ex-lag from Birmingham riot prison says lack of staff meant jail was awash with drugs and violence

A FORMER lag at HMP Birmingham has told how the now-infamous riot prison was a ‘ticking time bomb’ waiting to go off.

The ex-prisoner, who wished to remain anonymous, said he spent three months at the Category B facility, getting out in late October this year.

Steve – not his real name – said chronic understaffing meant prison officers were unable to control the jail’s population.

As a result, he said violence at HMP Birmingham ran rampant, with regular attacks on inmates and even other guards.

Steve told Sun Online: “There was violence all the time. There were inmates found with knuckle dusters, knives, you name it. There were officers being assaulted and all sorts. It was a ticking time bomb.

“There is an alarm bell that goes off when there is a fight and you see all the screws running.

“It was going off every 45 minutes to an hour. Some days the wings would be in total lockdown because of the violence and nobody would get out [of their cells].

“There were fires in there three to four times a week. It was already boiling over back in August.”

The former lag also claimed the prison – which is run by security firm G4S – was awash with drugs.

He said staff were unable to control the problem – with brazen prisoners openly taking illegal substances in front of the powerless officers.

Steve said: “I’ve seen lads rushed out of there in ambulances [from overdoses]. There was more drugs in there than cigarettes.

“There was an ambulance there every three or four hours. I used to see it all because I used to work around the jail as a red band (privileged prisoner).

“There was heroin, there was mamba, spice, there was weed – whatever you wanted they could get their hands on it.

“The staff couldn’t control it. They would just smoke it in front of them.

“The screws were scared. The cons run the jail, not the screws.”

Steve also told of prisoners not being allowed out of their cells to exercise for days or even weeks at a time as there weren’t enough prison officers to supervise them safely, causing tension among the inmates.

He added that he had some sympathy for the staff members, but claimed they were being put in an impossible situation.

He said: “Some of the staff are alright – some of the staff are really, really good – but they are banging their heads against a brick wall because it’s G4S.

“I’m 47 and some of them are 19 or 20. They haven’t got any life experience so I don’t know how they expect to deal with grown men.

“I spoke to a member of staff on her first day. She was only 20. She used to work in a lab where they tested make-up in her last job.”

Around 400 prisoners made headlines by seizing control of HMP Birmingham – Britain’s third biggest prison – for several hours yesterday.

The lags ran riot, trashing cells and landings, starting fires and raiding the pharmacy and security equipment store where riot gear is kept.

Prison authorities eventually regained control late last night, with riot officers pictured emerging from the facility covered in paint.

A spokesman for G4S said: “The overall staff number required is set out in our contract to manage the prison with the Ministry of Justice.

“Our staff group at HMP Birmingham is 499 and in the period September, October and November, staff attrition has averaged between 6 and 8 resignations of prison custody officers.”

The spokesman added: “In terms of the role of drugs, like prisons across the country, it remains a constant challenge to tackle the impact of drugs and new psychoactive substances (NPS) at HMP Birmingham.

“As a busy, city centre local prison it is a target for organised criminals in the area to smuggle in like drugs and mobile phones.

“Our team is working to try and reduce demand, through diverting prisoners onto detox programmes as well as tackle supply and our staff work relentlessly with West Midlands Police to catch people on the outside who smuggle in these drugs as well as rolling out new prison service drug testing regimes and re-training our own sniffer dogs to detect the new drugs.”

The Ministry of Justice has been contacted for comment.

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