An inmate came up with a subtle way to escape from a Salford prison. He attempted to sneak out of Forest Bank in Agecoft by disguising himself as a teacher.
But the ploy was foiled by a sharp-eyed member of staff. It is understood the prisoner wore a hat similar to that belonging to a teacher in a bid to walk out of the jail.
A spokesperson for Sodexo which runs the prison confirmed that the attempt was stopped but did not give any futher details. The Manchester Evening News understands the prisoner was in an authorised area and tried to get through an internal gate. He was challenged in line with normal procedure and access was denied.
One source said: "A vigilant member staff stopped a well planned escape, a prisoner pretended to be a member staff, a teacher to try to make his way out."
In 2019 another, a more dramatic break-out attempt at Forest Bank was bungled. Four masked men made their move as a taxi pulled out of Forest Bank prison's visitors car park onto Agecroft Road. Armed with a sawn-off shotgun, used their own car to block the cab's path.
One of the gang then levelled the weapon at the window of the private hire vehicle and peered inside. But then, suddenly they turned around and left. The incident was actually a failed bid to spring a drugs kingpin from custody - but the gang swooped on the wrong man. The person in the taxi was an ex-prisoner who was being released that day and escorted to a halfway house in Manchester.
Last month an M.E.N. investigation into Forest Bank prison - which uncovered allegations of widepread drug use and inmates who 'run the wings' - prompted an MP and Salford's mayor to write to the government to demand an 'urgent' review.
Our revelations included a call from Salford and Eccles MP Rebecca Long-Bailey for the Ministry of Justice to cancel a billion pound contract it has with Sodexo to run the troubled jail. Our investigation, based on allegations from a whistleblower, an ex-prisoner and his father and the family of a grandfather who died in his cell, exposed what Ms Bailey branded a 'culture of lawlessness' at the jail. We revealed:
- Drugs are rife, smuggled in via 'legal letters' and inmates are 'off their tits a lot of the time'
- Inmates brew their own hooch
- Violence is commonplace and inmates 'run the wings'
- Staff feel 'unsafe' and a lone guard can be 'left to guard 100-plus inmates'
- Staff have to buy 'their own uniform because of cost-cutting'
- A desperate father paid off a drug dealer on his addict son's wing because 'staff didn't protect him'
Sodexo's contract to run the prison ends on January 19, 2025. Back in 1998, it was awarded a deal worth £1,006,771,964 to design, build and run the prison built on the site of the former Agecroft power station under a private finance initiative to house a maximum 1,064 inmates. The deal was to last 25 years, before being extended.
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