Prisoner seriously injured during latest HMP Swaleside disturbance

An inmate has been injured during a disturbance at a prison that led to riot officers being drafted in.

The incident took place on Sunday evening (3 December) at HMP Swaleside on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent.

Several prisoners in a single wing took part in the violence which although has since been "successfully resolved", according to the Prison Service, it did require the use of specialist Tornado squad officers to bring order back to the site.

It comes almost a year after a riot broke out at the same prison which involved more than 60 prisoners and a 12-hour stand-off with officials.

The Prison Service stated: "We do not tolerate violence in our prisons and are clear that those responsible will be referred to police and could spend longer behind bars."

In September, the Independent Monitoring Board found that there had been an "unacceptable escalation of instability" at Swaleside with a number of assaults on both staff and prisoners.

At the time, the prison said it was taking "unprecedented" steps to tacking the problems that staff were faced with.

This involved the installation of body-worn cameras and CCTV, with a focus to clamp down on drugs, mobile phones and the use of drones.

Violent attacks have also risen across the board in British prisons, with a report in July calling for more action to tackle the problem.