Foreign inmate exodus at Ford prison

AN EYEWITNESS of the controversial operation to remove foreign inmates from Ford Open Prison in the early hours of Friday morning has told how the dramatic event unfolded.

Pauline Allen, a member of the prison's independent monitoring board (IMB), spoke to each of the 141 men as they were led away, one by one.

News of the prisoners' removal from Ford prompted outrage and sent political shockwaves across the country.

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Juliet Lyon, the director of the Prison Reform Trust, claimed political pressure was to blame for the operation, which involved more than 250 prison officers in riot gear.

She said: "This late-night raid on Ford Open Prison comes at a time of rising panic and political scaremongering.

"Since when did assessing risk mean snatching people from their beds in the dead of night with a helicopter wheeling overhead?

"It is hard to see how prisons can maintain secure, constructive regimes in this hysterical climate."

For the full story, read this week's Littlehampton Gazette

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