PRISON officers wearing riot gear have tackled a string of violent incidents at Scotland’s newest jail.
The Press and Journal understands that since HMP Grampian was opened at the start of March, staff have struggled to control rowdy prisoners, who have started a series of brawls.
A source revealed last night that officers at the £140million “superjail” had been involved in a four-hour stand-off with inmates in its Ellon 2 wing.
It is understood there was a further incident just hours later when prisoners who were exercising refused to return inside.
The source said: “Things had only just settled down from the afternoon when the next incident kicked off.
“There were around four or five wardens dealing with the prisoners who had been exercising outside as the rest were trying to clear up from the earlier incident.
“But then those inmates refused to come back in. There was one female warden there at the time and all the inmates just started to gravitate towards her. Naturally, the priority of the other officers was to make sure she was OK. Luckily, no one was hurt.”
It is understood inmates armed themselves with sharpened pool cues during one incident but the Scottish Prison Service insisted last night that inmates had only ever used broom handles in the confrontations.
The prison source claimed trouble inside the jail was an ongoing issue and management had been “too soft” on the new inmates.
The source added: “The prisoners are allowed to spend too much time outside their cells and the management is concerned the inmates are being treated too harshly.
“When officers started to appear in riot gear, which is only right to protect themselves, the bosses were instructing them to take it off because they claimed they were intimidating and frightening the prisoners.
“Likewise, after the incident on Tuesday, they should have just been locked up. However, they were allowed to go out and exercise, which led to yet another problem.
“Staff are scared for their safety as the prisoners are allowed to just run amok.”
Last night, a spokeswoman for the prison service confirmed there had been an incident on Tuesday involving a “small number” of inmates.
She said: “The incident was managed locally and successfully concluded by early evening, with no injuries to staff or offenders.
“Prisons can be difficult environments, dealing with individuals who at times refuse to comply with the regime.
“SPS has standard arrangements to respond to incidents at all prisons which are designed to minimise the risk of injury to staff and prisoners alike.
“These standard arrangements include staff wearing personal protective equipment and, where necessary, notifying the police.”
Two weeks ago, staff at HMP Grampian also dealt with an incident involving an inmate from the young offenders institution in the Cruden wing.
The spokeswoman said: “We can confirm there was an unrelated incident two weeks ago involving one young offender which was managed and concluded successfully, with no injury to our staff or the young offender.”
Local politicians have now called on staff at the prison to take action to prevent a repeat of the violence that plagued the old Peterhead Prison in the 1980s.
MSP Stewart Stevenson said: “While this is unfortunate, I am in no doubt that the professionalism of the prison staff will have meant this incident was brought to a satisfactory conclusion, as is evident by the fact that no one was injured.
“It’s regrettable this has happened and, regardless of the fact that the new prison is still bedding down, such incidents cannot be tolerated and I’m sure the prison authorities will be reviewing the matter to ensure the for further disruption is minimised.”