BLOG: Will the Birmingham riots find a speedy solution to the prison staffing crisis?

• By Political Correspondent Alison Mackenzie

The longer the crisis goes on - the more difficult to find a solution. HMP Birmingham is on the doorstep for constituents of the Labour MP for Birmingham Ladywood Shabana Mahmood.

She told me she has been contacted by relatives of those serving inside. They describe the terror of the violence on the jail corridors last Friday. Some told of their concerns the trouble might have spilt out beyond the prison walls and into the local community.

The government is growing under increasing pressure to take action. HMP Birmingham is run by the private firm G4S. The Birmingham Erdington MP Jack Dromey condemns it as a system that is 'failing'.

Later this afternoon the Justice Secretary Liz Truss will give the government's official response to Friday's events. Will she promise new resources to increase staffing levels? Will she signal the government might respond to calls from the Chairman of the Parole Board Nick Hardwick for the prison population to be reduced? Questions abound. The answers hard to pin down.

Meanwhile 240 Birmingham prisoners have been relocated to other jails in the aftermath of the riots. But is that simply transferring a dangerous situation elsewhere?

The hope is that the Birmingham riot will now finally speed up a solution to the crisis.