True chaos of HMP Birmingham riot revealed as authorities tell of hero officers sprayed with fire hoses and paint as they tried to tackle lags
THE PRISON officers who tackled the chaos of the HMP Birmingham riot have been hailed as heroes as it is revealed how the destructive rampage unfolded.
Last month lags from across four wings wreaked havoc when they caused £2million worth of damage at the G4S-run institution.
Rodger Lawrence, chairman of the Birmingham prison and independent monitoring board, watched the worrying events unfold on CCTV in the command suite of the building.
He has now revealed how there was a "snatch squad ready to go in"; to retrieve the injured prisoner.
However each time the daring raid was about to take place, the prisoners became "more aggressive";.
"There was then a feeling that he was used as a bait, so that once the gates were open and the snatch squad was in, they would flood out into the rest of the prison," he added.
He said it was a "quite stressful and difficult" situation, with prisoners also building bonfires, throwing paint and other objects.
Mr Lawrence added: "To hold it [the gate] and stop the prison being more taken over than it actually was was really very heroic, especially the person who double locked everywhere.
"That was a significant key moment in making sure things didn't get worse than they already had."
Prisons minister Sam Gyimah said he was "incredibly proud" of the officers at HMP Birmingham and those who helped resolve the disturbance.
And now sources have revealed how the riot took place.
The trouble first began when prisoners from N wing were being unlocked from their cells, with six jumping straight onto the netting and making threats to take a guard with them.
It is understood the situation then escalated quickly, with prisoners proceeding to destroy the prison interior.
Officers were even sprayed with water from fire hoses - which prisoners filmed on their phones.
One experienced guard is said to have been on the safe side of a protective grille and could see the situation was escalating.
However, as he turned to close another door, a prisoner reached through the grille and snatched his keys. Staff were then forced to withdraw completely from N and P wings.
An unprotected officer then took a key, which the prisoners would not have had access to, around the entire block - double locking all the doors and preventing them leaving.
Prison staff also chained and padlocked all the doors and gates, however despite this effort the prisoners managed to smash through using a trolley.
As officers withdrew, one officer tried to get another chain on a gate, with prisoners running towards them saying they "better get them on quick".
For around an hour-and-a-half, a group of 16 officers guarded that gate until national resources arrived, stopping the prisoners getting out into the rest of the prison.
During this time, fires were started, the gate was rammed with the trolley, and staff were pelted with missiles and paint.
Prisoners then gained access to wings L and M, and most of the damage inside the two blocks, which comprises of four wings, was centred around the staff quarters.
An injured prisoner was later placed in front of the gates which staff were guarding during the incident.
More than 40 prisoners from N and P wings who were on activities that morning and who could not be returned to their cells, were taken to the gym.
And despite staff having to withdraw from the gym, two prison orderlies kept control inside, preventing any damage to the building or equipment.
168 officers in specialist Tornado teams swept through the jail at around 8.30pm and within 35 minutes had the prison secured.
On the day of the disorder inmate capacity was 1,475 but, due to the damage, this has been reduced to 919.
Two men have now been charged in relation to the disturbance on December 16.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368