Blunkett studies dossier of 50 brutality claims

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Prison inquiry call as 'sadistic' officers are jailed

David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, has been given a dossier, seen by The Independent, containing allegations of more than 50 incidents of brutality at Wormwood Scrubs prison.

The file, backed by two former chief inspectors of prisons, indicates that the scale of violence was worse than ever before imagined.

The incidents cited include:

January 1993: Prisoner Raphael Rowe was kicked and punched all over his body in the segregation unit. The Prison Service has settled the case out of court.

March 1993: After he refused to tuck his shirt in, prisoner Andryz Jakubczyk was allegedly beaten by four officers in the segregation unit. The Prison Service has paid compensation to Jakubczyk.

September 1994: The notorious prisoner Charles Bronson received a fractured cheek bone, broken fingers and a broken toe after an incident in the segregation block. He said: "There was 10 of them with riot shields and batons. They started hitting me and telling me my mum was dead. They were hitting me on my hands and feet."

June 1995: Mr W alleged he was confronted by officers who did not like his attitude. He claimed he was beaten up and told, "We've broken bigger men than you down here".

May 1996: Mr B alleged he was beaten up by several officers after being abused for requesting a vegetarian meal. He claimed he was taken to the segregation unit and given a further beating.

August 1996: Mr T alleged he was headbutted and had his face forced into the ground by up to 10 officers. He claimed he was taken to the segregation unit and beaten.

December 1996: Mr R alleged he was being held in the segregation unit and was refused food and water. He asked for photographs of his son on the anniversary of his death and received them ripped into pieces. Mr R attempted to hang himself.

July 1997: Prisoner Mark Tribe alleged he was attacked by two officers in a shower room, then assaulted three more times until he agreed to tell a governor that he assaulted an officer. Two officers were later acquitted of criminal offences but face disciplinary charges.

November 1997: Mr C alleged he was grabbed by the throat and headbutted after he mistakenly used a wrong staircase. He later claimed he was beaten unconscious by other staff. Four officers were later acquitted at a criminal trial.

November 1997: Remand prisoner Mr L claimed he was the victim of three sustained assaults in the segregation unit.

November 1997: Mr G claimed he was accosted by officers in the visits room in front of his wife and daughter. He was taken to the segregation unit and beaten up. An officer was later acquitted of the attack at a criminal trial.

December 1997: Mr F alleged that he was the victim of racial abuse and five assaults in the segregation unit.

January 1998: Mr B alleged he was attacked four times in the segregation unit and was told: "This is not Highpoint [prison]. We'll beat you up and we don't care."

February 1998. Mr O alleged that he was a victim of two assaults in the segregation unit. He claimed one officer taunted him by saying: "When was the last time someone was found hanging in these cells?" An assault charge against one officer was later dropped.

February 1998: Mr W alleged he was assaulted on D Wing. Rather than risk going to the segregation unit he threw himself off his second floor landing, puncturing a lung and breaking several ribs.

July 1998: Three officers Andy Jones, Danny Brewer and Craig Atkinson, set about prisoner Timothy Donovan, who was kicked and punched on his cell floor for up to five minutes. At a trial in September last year, Jones, 34, was jailed for 18 months for the attack. Brewer, 35, was given 15 months and Atkinson received 12 months.

July 1998: Mr M claimed he suffered three assaults in the segregation unit, including having his teeth smashed against a pipe. He slashed his wrist in an attempt to be removed from the unit.

September 1999: Mr R suffered a broken nose and bruising after an incident with staff on B Wing, which left him coughing up blood.

February 2001: Mr J alleged he was punched in the face by an officer who thought he was being restrained when he was actually being treated for a dizzy spell.