Prison lockdown: Trouble breaks out inside HMP Leeds

Inmates were confined to their cells until order was restored, causing disruption to at least one court hearing.

The trouble was contained to one wing of the Category B male prison in Armley, according to the Prison Service.

A spokesman: “A single wing at HMP Leeds was locked down for around 45 minutes this morning following an incident between two prisoners.

“It was successfully resolved by staff with no injuries to prisoners or officers. The wing is now operating as normal.”

A hearing due to take place at Bradford Crown Court was unable to go ahead as a result of the disorder.

The defendant involved had been scheduled to appear from the prison via video link, but could not leave his cell due to the lockdown.

His hearing has been relisted and will now take place tomorrow.

An Independent Monitoring Board report published in June noted the prison was close to or at its 1,218 prisoner capacity all year.

The report said there were an average of 46 ‘violent incidents’ a month, including self-harm, and four self-inflicted deaths in custody during 2016.