1990 Strangeways Prison riot administrative offices on the lower floor and the chapel on the upper floor. Remand prisoners were held in wings G, H, I and K of a separate prison, linked to the main prison through workshops and a kitchen. The Certified Normal Accommodation Figure for Strangeways, the number of prisoners the prison was designed to hold, was 970. The population of the prison had increased in the months before the riot, from 1,417 in January 1990 to a peak of 1,658 on 27 March. On 1 April, the prison contained 1,647 prisoners – about 925 convicted adult prisoners, 500 remand prisoners
Pudu Prison siege crisis inside the prison walls grew and anxiety increased. Large crowds began to gather outside of Pudu Prison every day, eager to find out what was going on inside. The high-rise buildings in the neighbourhood became watch towers for the public. The other prisoners there could see what the security forces were doing and planning in the canteen. The Malaysian Prime Minister Dato' Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who was supposed to leave on an official overseas trip, stayed on in the federal capital to ensure the matter was resolved without bloodshed. This was conveyed to the police forces on scene