This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/jul/31/incident-breaks-out-at-hertfordshire-prison

The article has changed 10 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
'Incident' breaks out at Hertfordshire prison Riot officers sent to deal with incident at Hertfordshire prison
(about 1 hour later)
An incident involving a number of prisoners has broken out at the Mount prison in Hertfordshire, the Ministry of Justice has said. Specialist riot-trained officers are dealing with an incident involving a number of inmates at a prison in Hertfordshire, following a warning two days ago that “trouble was brewing”.
Specially trained staff were dealing with the matter, a spokeswoman said. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said the officers were called to The Mount, a category C prison, near the village of Bovingdon.
She said: “Specially trained staff are working to resolve an incident involving a number of prisoners at HMP the Mount. A spokeswoman said: “Specially trained staff are working to resolve an incident involving a number of prisoners at HMP The Mount.
“The prison is completely secure and there is no risk to the public.”“The prison is completely secure and there is no risk to the public.”
The category C male prison, which opened in Hemel Hempstead in 1987, has a population of more than 1,000 prisoners. The BBC said sources claimed one wing and half of another were “lost” and a command suite was set up around 2pm on Monday.
The facility is described as a “hybrid training and resettlement prison” which caters for a number of prisoners nearing the end of their sentences who are residents of the county and nearby areas. The prison scored the second lowest of four possible ratings in the National Offender Management Service’s (NOMS) annual prison performance review last week, which said overall performance was “of concern”.
An inspection in 2015 found the prison was performing well, with inspectors noting it was “reasonably safe and felt calm and well ordered”, but chief inspector of prisons Nick Hardwick added that there was “room for improvement”. Former prisoner and author Alex Cavendish warned two days ago that staff shortages were causing problems. On Monday he said Tornado squads, equipped to deal with riots, had been sent in. He said that he had been informed that two wings, housing 227 prisoners, were out of control.
On Saturday Cavendish tweeted:
Staff shortages at HMP The Mount (Herts) are so severe that this is 3rd weekend of total lockdown. Meals given at cell door. Trouble brewing pic.twitter.com/n6Ndj9TWkE
On Monday he added:
HMP The Mount: inside sources stating that too many young, inexperienced officers had been deployed. Prison has been on brink for weeks.
He said a source claimed the prison has “been running on very restricted regime for weeks” because of shortages of “nearly 50 staff”.
The prison opened in 1987 on the site of a former RAF station and provides training and resettlement programmes for more than 1,000 men serving the last six months of their sentences. They are mainly from Hertfordshire and the surrounding area.
The MoJ said the regime includes full and part-time education, workshops and training courses. There are also farms and gardens at the prison.