Inmates at Forest Bank prison involved in 'passive protest' as government decides its future
Prisoners were involved in a protest on a wing at Salford's troubled Forest Bank prison which was 'peacefully resolved', managers have confirmed. The drama involved some inmates climbing 'at height' according to one well-placed source who said bosses had 'lost control'.
The claim has been denied by spokesperson for the privately-run prison, which can house up to 1,460 inmates, who insisted the prison is operating a 'normal regime'.
The prison source told the Manchester Evening News that trouble erupted at the prison on Tuesday morning, adding that 'association' had been ended so that most inmates could not mix on the wings and remained locked in their cells.
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The Manchester Evening News put the allegations to prison bosses who have now responded, denying the source's claim that specialist outside resources were drafted in to restore order.
An HMP Forest Bank spokesperson said: 'We can confirm that minor changes to the prison regime were made to further incentivise and encourage engagement in work, education and other rehabilitative activities.
"A small number of prisoners were involved in a passive protest on one wing on Tuesday morning, 22nd April. This was quickly and peacefully resolved. The prison has been operating a normal regime.'
The Ministry of Justice confirmed earlier this year it had temporarily extended Sodexo's contract to run the under-fire prison in Salford. Justice minister Lord Timpson confirmed in a letter in January that the 'contract award letter was issued in early August 2024 however an issue with the evaluation process was identified', prompting the delay in the announcement of the new contractor.
The France-based facilities giant Sodexo was granted an extension to give the government more time to decide who should run the jail. Insiders at the prison expected a decision last summer, as the billion pound contract to build and run the jail ran out on January 19.
Staff believed Sodexo would be axed following an M.E.N. investigation which uncovered allegations of widespread drug use and inmates who 'run the wings'. It prompted an MP and Salford's mayor to write to the government to demand an 'urgent' review.
Revelations included a call from Salford and Eccles MP Rebecca Long-Bailey for the Ministry of Justice to cancel the contract. In the summer the M.E.N. reported that two sources at the jail had said that the Ministry of Justice had decided to award the new contract to another company, but that Sodexo was appealing the decision.
The Manchester Evening News' investigation in 2023, based on allegations from a whistleblower, an ex-prisoner and his father, and the family of a grandfather who died in his cell, exposed what Ms Long-Bailey branded a 'culture of lawlessness' at the jail.
The M.E.N. revealed that:
Drugs are rife, smuggled in via 'legal letters' and inmates are 'off their t**s a lot of the time'
Inmates brew their own hooch
Violence is commonplace and inmates 'run the wings'
Staff feel 'unsafe' and a lone guard can be 'left to guard 100-plus inmates'
Staff have to buy 'their own uniform because of cost-cutting'
A desperate father paid off a drug dealer on his addict son's wing because 'staff didn't protect him'
Sodexo's initial contract to run the prison ended on January 19, 2025. Back in 1998, it was awarded a deal worth £1,006,771,964 to design, build and run the prison built on the site of the former Agecroft power station under a private finance initiative to house a maximum 1,064 inmates. The deal was to last 25 years, before being extended.
Sodexo, founded and based in France, runs six prisons in England and Scotland, and in 2022 recorded revenues of 21.1 billion euros, including 'underlying operating profit' of more than a billion euros, up 83 per cent.
A Prison Service spokesperson said: 'We have extended the current contract to maintain continuity while procurement remains ongoing.'
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