Britain Fears Unrests as Prison Population Swells to Record Level

TEHRAN (FNA)- Prison service chiefs have sounded the alarm over potential unrests in overcrowded jails in England and Wales as hundreds of protestors have swelled the prison population to a record level.
The Prison Service admitted on Friday that they are "closely monitoring the estate for any potential unrest" after the prison population broke through the 86,000 mark for the first time.

The governors of all jails in England and Wales were earlier this week warned by the Prison Service's "gold commander", who was running the emergency response to the riots, to take steps to ensure the safety of those involved in public disorder who had been remanded in custody for the first time in their lives, it emerged on Friday.

"This morning there has been a nasty three person alleged assault. All three victims were public disorder remands, two currently in hospital," Andrew Cross, the Prison Service's deputy director of operations who was acting as gold commander, reported in the email.

A separate email to governors from the Prison Service's national operations group asks them to "watch the mood and atmosphere in your prison" in the aftermath of the alleged assault on three people, which it says took place at Cookham Wood young offenders institution at Borstal in Kent.

The internal justice ministry emails indicate that while prison chiefs are fairly confident that they can provide sufficient cells to cope with the rocketing prison population, they have more immediate concerns about the volatility of the jail population.

They appear particularly concerned that existing inmates, perhaps from rival groups, will attack some unwary, unconvicted unrest defendants who have never been in trouble before and have little idea of how to safely navigate the gang-hardened culture inside some jails.

The email sent to all governors by Cross said, "Over the past few days there has been emerging intelligence regarding the consequences of receiving public disorder remands/offenders."

Cross said individual prisons were responding to this intelligence, "The consideration that has been gathering pace is the safety of remands/offenders and is not limited to the young offenders/young persons estate but also includes adult male and female offenders."

He told governors that when they were dealing with unrest defendants or offenders it was important they put thought into their background in terms of their experience of a custodial setting.

rapid increase in prison numbers meant that some parts of the system were "becoming human warehouses, doing little more than banging people up in overcrowded conditions, with regimes that are hard pressed to offer any employment or education. The likelihood is that for some first time offenders that will provide a fast-track to a criminal career."

Unrest has rocked Britain on a scale unprecedented in 30 years following the police's killing of black male Mark Duggan in a shooting spree in the London suburb of Tottenham on August 4.

Tension erupted on August 6, when a few hundred people gathered outside a police station in Tottenham to protest the killing.

The protests then spread to major cities like Birmingham, Liverpool, and Bristol.

Despite London's claims about supporting freedom of expression and flow of information, Britain's Prime Minister threatened to block access to social networking websites following the outbreak of social unrests in the country, London in particular.

The British police have arrested a number of internet users as part of a broader clampdown on social networking sites under security excuses.