HMP Stafford was used to incarcerate prisoners of war from the defeated Easter Rising in April 1916.

Compulsory military service or conscription had been introduced into Great Britain, and when these people were called up they refused to come.

[7]The facility was closed in late 1916 and mothballed for two decades, re-opening on the commencement of World War II in 1939.

Inmates were fashioning strips of paper into planes, then attaching lines to them and flying them over the 19-foot (5.8-metre) perimeter wall.

The trust noted that HMP Stafford had employed four different governors in only five years, and that such unstable leadership would not be tolerated in schools or hospitals.

The trust also highlighted prison officers' absenteeism through sickness leave being an issue of concern.

Considerable advance had also been made in reducing the supply of narcotics into the prison, and in addressing drug addiction treatment.