1990 Strangeways Prison riot with many excerpts from the letters being appended to the finished report. The "Woolf Report" was published on 25 February 1991, and blamed the loss of control of the prison on the prison officers abandoning the gates outside the chapel, which "effectively handed the prison to the prisoners". Woolf described the conditions inside Strangeways in the months leading up to the riot as "intolerable", and viewed a "combination of errors" by staff and management at the prison and Prison Service as a central contributing factor to the riot. He also blamed the failure of successive governments to "provide the resources
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