Category Archives: Roof-Top Protest

Click here to visit Converse, the national newspaper for Prisoners in England and Wales

Two men who were staging a protest on the roof of a prison have ended their protest.

The men, both inmates, managed to gain access to the roof of Buckley Hall prison near Manchester this morning, the Ministry of Justice confirmed.

Police were called to the scene and the Prison Service said at the time that  ’specialist staff’ were working to talk them down.

The category C men’s prison on Buckley Hall Road in Smallbridge holds ‘medium security’ prisoners.

It has space in three separate units for more than 250 prisoners. In a statement, the Prison Service said: “An incident at height involving two prisoners at HMP Buckley Hall was successfully resolved by negotiation at 12.25pm. No staff or prisoners were injured.”

The prison switched to a women’s training prison in 2000 but re-opened for men five years later in 2005. Category C inmates are defined by the Prison Service as adults who cannot be trusted in an open prison but are unlikely to try to escape.

Mark Leech, editor of Converse the national newspaper for prisoners said he hoped it was an isolated incident.

“No one likes to talk up unrest, and certainly not me, I hope it is an isolated incident but as budget cuts begin to bite in our overcrowded prison system, and with a hot summer ahead, it would be foolish for anyone to say this could not happen again  - it certainly could.

“With prisons massively overcrowded, and many inmates locked up hundreds of miles from loved ones, tensions increase.

“When you add to that the fact that many are now being locked in their cells for far longer than normal, because budget cuts mean governors have no cash to employ officers they need to deliver the services required, it is not rocket science to conclude what could happen – if it all goes pear-shaped in our prisons these budget cuts could end up costing a hundred times the amount of money they claim to save.”