CAGED HEAT - PRISON RIOTS

Prison: a seething cauldron of frustrated testosterone and thwarted aggression. When men lose their liberties, are herded into small spaces, and semi-emasculated by institutionalisation, minor acts of violence become an everyday occurrence.

For the real hard-men, who feel that they have nothing to lose, and few if any human rights, the full-on Prison Riot is their Big Chance - to rebuild their battered masculinities, and kick back at their gaolers. In the process, inter-prisoner hierarchies are shifted, simmering grudges are satisfied, and long-planned revenges are exacted. From Strangeways in 1980 to recent eruptions at Harmandsworth and Yarls Wood, we anatomise the prison Riot - from Lockdown, to Code Red.

Aware that, without weapons, their control hangs by a thread, the authorities condone prisoner-on-prisoner aggression and brutally-enforced inmate hierarchies; they understand that without these distractions, things could turn ugly for them. But when prisoners abandon in-fighting, and unite against their masters, they are (almost) invincible.

Events:
Harmandsworth Detention Centre 2004.
Yarls Wood Detention Centre 2002.
Lincoln Prison 2002.
Portland Young Offenders Institution 2000.
Strangeways 1980.