Inmates in seven-hour 'stand-off' with staff at HMP Birmingham

Trouble at HMP Birmingham has been brought under control following a seven-hour stand-off between staff and prisoners.

The incident at one of the country's largest jails started at around 5pm on Sunday when a "small number" of inmates refused to return to their cells.

No prison staff were injured and there was "no risk to the public", a Prison Service spokesman said.

HMP Birmingham is run by security firm G4S when it became the first public-sector jail to be privatised in 2011.

A prison spokesman said staff had "successfully resolved disorder on one wing at HMP Birmingham".

The city centre jail, formerly known as Winson Green, can hold up to 1,450 inmates.

In December 2016, hundreds of inmates were caught up in disorder at the prison which lasted for more than 12 hours.

Riot squads were deployed after reports of prisoners setting fire to stairwells and destroying paper records.

At the time, one man, believed to be in his 20s, was taken to hospital with a facial injury, West Midlands Ambulance Service said.

That incident was said to be the worst prison riot since Strangeways in 1990 which lasted for 25 days and resulted in the death of one prisoner and nearly 200 prison officers and prisoners being injured.