Guards scrambled as inmates 'jam the locks on cell doors' at problem-hit prison

PRISON BOSSES INSIST IT WAS 'QUICKLY AND PROFESSIONALLY RESOLVED' 18:09, 02 Jun 2025Updated 06:00, 03 Jun 2025 Prison officers had to deal with a disturbance at Forest Bank jail in

Salford on Saturday (May 31), after some unruly inmates are understood to have jammed the locks on their cell doors. Bosses at the troubled privately-operated prison confirmed brief details

of the incident on A1 wing and insist it was 'quickly and professionally resolved'. One prison insider told the Manchester Evening News there was a 'huge disturbance' on

A1 wing at HMP Forest Bank prison in Salford on Saturday evening. A number of inmates 'jammed' their cell door locks which prevented prison officers from being able to lock them

up as normal, according to the well-placed insider. Staff had to remain on shift until the incident was over, said the source. In April, prison officers had to deal with a 'passive

protest' at Forest Bank, which can house up to 1,460 inmates, the_ Manchester Evening News_ has reported. Article continues below The drama involved some inmates climbing 'at

height' according to one well-placed source who said bosses had 'lost control', a claim denied at the time. When _the Manchester Evening News_ asked the prison to comment on

Saturday afternoon's incident, a spokesperson said: "We can confirm there was an isolated incident on one of the wings on Saturday 31 May afternoon. "This was quickly and

professionally resolved by the staff involved." 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 original 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. Article continues below 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.