Strangeways Prison riot
The Guardian described the report as a blueprint for the restoration of "decency and justice into jails where conditions had become intolerable".
[1][2] At the time of the riot, the main prison consisted of six wings connected by a central rotunda known as the Centre.
[7] Later the same day, Morton and Bush climbed onto the roof of the prison and staged a twenty-hour rooftop protest.
[12] Reverend Proctor was recording the service for distribution to a prayer group, and the subsequent events were recorded:[13] Noel Proctor: After that remarkable message that has... Paul Taylor: I would like to say, right, that this man has just talked about blessing of the heart and a hardened heart can be delivered.
[More noise until microphone goes dead][13]As Proctor was appealing for calm, a prisoner brandishing two sticks shouted out, "You've heard enough, let's do it, get the bastards".
[14] Some prisoners helped to get Proctor and injured officers to a place of safety via the vestry,[13][14] while others barricaded entrances to the chapel or attempted to gain access to the roof.
White later died in North Manchester General Hospital on 3 April after being admitted suffering from head wounds, a dislocated shoulder and chest pains.
That decision, had it been taken half an hour earlier, would have meant we could have held the remand prison, meaning we could have kept another 400 locked up.
[29] A banner was unveiled that read "No dead", in response to claims in the press that between eleven and twenty prisoners had been killed in the rioting.
[35] Also that day the Prison Officers' Association (POA) claimed that Rule 43(a) prisoners were being treated in North Manchester General Hospital for castration wounds, which was repeated by sections of the press despite being categorically denied by the hospital's public relations officer and consultant-in-charge.
[35][37] Also that day a prison officer died in hospital from pneumonia; he had not been injured during the riot and suffered from a long-standing medical condition.
[36][37] Two more prisoners surrendered on 5 April, the same day as the Home Office announced a public inquiry into the riot headed by Lord Woolf.
[42] On 6 April Paul Taylor attempted to shout out the prisoners' demands to the crowd gathered below, but he was drowned out by police sirens.
[36] Taylor and other prisoners responded by unfurling a banner which read "We fight and stand firm on behalf of humanity".
[45] Local businesses were calling for an end to the riot due to the disruption caused, including the closure of roads around the prison.
I think the final stages were messed around by the Home Office so that our protest could help to divert the public's attention from the Poll Tax revolt that was going on throughout the country.
As Alan Lord was snatched after being asked to negotiate on behalf of us all, this made us all more defiant about ending the protest.
[49] At 6:20 pm the remaining five prisoners were removed from the roof in a "cherry picker" hydraulic platform, giving clenched fist salutes to the press and public as they descended.
[29] Reports of the violence at Strangeways included kangaroo courts, hangings, castrations and that between eleven and twenty prisoners had been killed.
[56] The newspaper was forced to publish a retraction admitting that "reliable police sources" had been mistaken, when it transpired that the man was actually alive and imprisoned in HM Prison Leeds.
Though there was inter-prisoner violence in the first hours of the riot, torture on the scale suggested by many of the early reports did not take place.
"[56] It further found that press coverage "fell into the serious ethical error of presenting speculation and unconfirmed reports as fact".
[56] A five-month public inquiry was held into the disturbances at Strangeways and other prisons, beginning in Manchester on 11 June 1990 and ending in London on 31 October.
[61] The key recommendations were: The Guardian described the report as a blueprint for the restoration of "decency and justice into jails where conditions had become intolerable".
[65] The trial was conducted amid tight security, including armed police patrolling the area around the court, body searches for spectators and a specially constructed dock with sides made from bulletproof glass.
[66] The other defendants were also acquitted of murder due to the unreliability of eyewitness testimony and the possibility that White had died from a pre-existing thrombotic condition.
[68] Two defendants pleaded guilty to violent disorder and received four- and five-year sentences, which due to the two years they had spent on remand awaiting trial resulted in them being freed.
[70] On 20 September 1993 the last remaining defendant to maintain a plea of not guilty went on trial, and he was convicted of conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm and sentenced to thirty months imprisonment.
[70] Strangeways was rebuilt and refurbished at a cost of £55 million, and was officially re-opened as HM Prison Manchester on 27 May 1994.
[77] The newspaper also referenced in its own report an interview with Lord Woolf from earlier in the year where he described prisoners being kept in intolerable conditions–as bad as at the time of the riots.
