Prison Riots in Britain

Abstract

The history of prison riots in Britain divides into four periods comparable in duration to those in the US: traditional riots up to the early 1950s; riots against conditions from the early 1950s to the late 1960s; collective consciousness-raising riots after the late 1960s; and from the mid-1970s, riots of the post-rehabilitation period which were fragmented in character.

The analysis of the present trends of imprisonment in Britain and in the U.S.A. emphasize [s] that we must support the prisoners’ struggle not only for their sakes, but for ours too. For the prison indeed oppresses not just those who are locked behind its bars; increasingly it reaches out to ensnare every one of us.

(Fitzgerald, 1977, p. 266)