Film Number

12915

Title

[STRANGEWAYS PRISON RIOT]

Producer

WFA Media & Cultural Centre

Date

1990

Gauge

Beta SP

Colour

colour

Sound

sound

Running Time

13 mins 52 secs

Description

Scenes outside Strangeways Prison in Manchester during the prison riots of April 1990. The prison governor, Brendan O'Friel, speaks to the media, while onlookers watch and react to events. The riot began in the jail on April 1st, when prisoners seized control of the prison chapel. The disturbance then escalated, becoming a rooftop protest about the overcrowded and squalid conditions inside the Victorian building. The authorities tried to end the protest by spraying cold water onto the roof and playing loud music at the prisoners but met with little success. The prisoners waved banners, shouted abuse, and threw missiles. This standoff between the prisoners and the authorities went on for 25 days and attracted much media attention, both locally and nationally. When the protest finally ended, it left two fatalities, many more injuries, and much of the prison badly damaged or destroyed. A public inquiry into the disturbances produced the Woolf Report in 1991, recommending sweeping changes in the way prisons were run. The prison was rebuilt, re-opening in 1994 as HM Prison Manchester, but to this day, the dramatic events at Strangeways remain the longest and most famous prison riot in British penal history.

This title was digitised and preserved as part of the BFI Heritage 2022 programme. It is available to view for free via BFI Replay in UK Public Libraries - https://replay.bfi.org.uk/