Inmates 'left to police themselves' at HMP Birmingham

The riots could and should have been prevented, the report says.

‘Chronic staffing shortages’ meant officers at Winson Green had ‘relinquished control’ to often drug-addled prisoners before the riot involving 600 inmates.

Widespread issues at the jail were clear to investigators following the large-scale disorder in 2016 – yet it was only this week that the Government took action and stripped G4S of control of the prison following an unannounced inspection, which uncovered flagrant drug use, staff asleep on the job and bullying.

The secret dossier, which has not been released publicly by the Government, revealed bosses had gradually lost control having been ‘worn down’ in the months leading up to the violence.

It said staff ‘had gradually relinquished authority to the prisoners who were in effect policing themselves for much of the time’.

Ambulances arrived at the prison so often they were were referred to as ‘mambulances’ by lags, in reference to the psychoactive drug Black Mamba.

The chairman of the prison’s Independent Monitoring Board said the potential for serious unrest should have been foreseen and that a combination of staff cuts and a rising prison population was a ‘recipe for disaster’.

It has also emerged the former head of the prisons watchdog called for lessons to be learned from the riots in June this year, two months before the prison was taken off G4S.

The Government report said the riot ‘could and should have been prevented’ and that staff ‘had, in the preceding year, become worn down by chronic staffing shortages’.

Staff ‘had gradually relinquished authority to the prisoners who were in effect policing themselves for much of the time’, the report said.

The 14-hour riot escalated after a set of keys were snatched and prisoners started climbing on netting.

The president of the Governors’ Association, Andrea Albutt, said declining morale among workers led to an environment where the prisoners were allowed to take control.

She said: “If staff have withdrawn, and when I say withdrawn, not physically, but have withdrawn because they are not confident then this is the kind of recipe for disturbances in prisons.”

Roger Swindells, chairman of the Independent Monitoring Board, said: “It’s very simple. If you take 40 per cent out of the budget, if you cut staffing by 30 per cent, if you increase prisoner numbers, you are creating a recipe for disaster and the disaster on this occasion landed on Birmingham’s doorstep.”

The Government commissioned a report into the riot but said it was ‘not appropriate to release any part’ of it because it could ‘compromise security arrangements’.

However, parts of the report have been leaked in an ITV documentary after being made available to inmates charged over the riot.

The decision not to release the findings of the report was criticised by Nick Hardwick, the former Chief Inspector of Prisons, who told ITV in June: “If things are hidden that will mean the right solutions aren’t put in place.”

The Government will run Winson Green prison for at least six months and has said it will not hand back control until it is satisfied G4S is capable of running it.

The action has prompted concerns on the future of Oakwood Prison, near Wolverhampton, also run by the private security firm.