A brazen group of inmates filmed a riot team raid on a cell with a smuggled mobile phone while laughing that guards ‘won’t say nothing’ about their contraband.
A dozen prisoners hurled obscenities and banged on the walls as they watched guards remove an inmate for damaging his room at HMP Altcourse in Liverpool on September 23.
They cheered and shouted ‘f****** nonce’ at the man who was seen being led away from the cell and said: ‘That’s what you get for keeping us awake at night.’
They were holding their illicit phone right up to the window of their packed cell and filmed for nearly two minutes without attracting the attention of the guards yards away.
They even boasted that the officers could not stop them if they tried because ‘there’s too many of us’ and another says: ‘They won’t say nothing anyway’ and that the staff would get ‘bent in’ – jail slang for assault.
This is the moment a brazen group of inmates filmed a riot team raid on a nearby cell on a mobile phone, which are banned in prisons
The group of around a dozen men cheer and dance on camera as they laugh that guards wouldn’t dare take it off them
Former inmates mocked the footage online and dubbed the Category B jail ‘Butlins with bars’ and called time there ‘easy jail’ while another who enjoyed the Sky TV and two canteens there said: ‘Take me back’.
The video – uploaded to social media – shows three officers in full riot gear preparing to enter the cell, accompanied by a prison guard and a doctor
The video – uploaded to social media – shows three officers in full riot gear preparing to enter the cell, accompanied by a prison guard and a doctor.
An inmate holds the phone up to the window and says: ‘There’s the gangsters. There’s the Power Rangers. There’s the medic.’
The cons shout ‘Allahu Akbar’ and roar with excitement as the armoured guards rush in.
The prisoner hides the phone when another guard approaches the neighbouring cell and says: ‘Yo, she’s looking.’
But he quickly resumes filming after another prisoner brags: ‘They won’t say nothing anyway.’
The group seem totally unconcerned about a possible raid, saying: ‘There’s too many of us in this pad anyway. Imagine if they come in here now? They would get bent in. Ten-man deep. Yo, let’s spin it round in a minute and get us.’
Raucous cheers go up when the prisoner staggers out of his cell and they shout: ‘F****** noncing fish head’.
The filming con says: ‘Yo, they’ve got him, look. They’ve got him good.’
Officers appear to handcuff the man before carrying him away.
The prisoner, who was half naked, was taken away by guards in riot gear on September 23
Under the post on social media one ex-prisoner wrote on social media: ‘Altcourse is Butlins with bars. Finished off a sentence there a while back, cushty as f***’
The cocky lag then turns the camera around and is seen jumping up and down with his cellmates, saying: ‘This is Altcourse gang life.’
The Merseyside prison is run by private security firm G4S and houses around 1,300 inmates.
On its website, G4S says it tries to ‘normalise’ conditions for prisoners at HMP Altcourse to reflect life on the outside and help them reintegrate with society.
But former inmates called it an ‘easy jail’ and said they longed to go back.
Under the post on social media one ex-prisoner wrote on social media: ‘Altcourse is Butlins with bars. Finished off a sentence there a while back, cushty as f***’
Another said: ‘Altcourse, brekkies and bingo on weekend, Sky telly, two canteens a week. Ffs send me back. Easy jail.’
A third commented: ‘The Power Rangers. Hahaha. I miss Altcourse.’
A spokeswoman for G4S said an inmate was moved to a secure unit on suspicion of damaging his cell and disrupting the prison regime.
She said the prisoners were locked in the cell to allow guards to safely remove the man, which is why it was crowded. No serious injuries were reported.
Director of HMP Altcourse Steve Williams added: ‘There is no place for mobile phones in prison. Today, prison officers will be searching the cell and if a mobile phone is found this will be passed as evidence to Merseyside Police.
‘We will always work to seize prohibited items and those in possession of contraband could face additional time in prison.’