Strangeways

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122 years later the prison held 1;660 men in dire conditions. The men were held, three to a cell, for up to 23 hours a day. Cells measured 12 feet by 8 feet (3.65 x 2.44 meters).

For many years prior to 1990 the policy had been, not been to house & rehabilitate, but to control & contain. The prisoners suffered the daily humiliation of “slopping out.” There were repeated claims of bruality and injustice. Many of the prison officers werw known to have extreme right-wing sympathies.

On April 1, 1990, during the Sunday Service, the prisoners firsst seized the chapel, then throughout that day occupied over half the prison.

So began a 25 day siege that became a watershed in british penal history.