1990 Strangeways Prison riot newspaper also referenced in its own report an interview with former Lord Chief Justice Lord Woolf from earlier in the year where he described prisoners being kept in intolerable conditions–as bad as at the time of the riots. Woolf recommended prisons were kept out of politics. A riot involving several hundred prisoners that occurred at Birmingham Prison in December 2016 was described by prison affairs academic Alex Cavendish as "probably the most serious riot in a B category prison since Strangeways went up". The incident began after a set of keys was stolen from a prison officer while he was
1990 Strangeways Prison riot died in hospital from pneumonia; he had not been injured during the riot and suffered from a long-standing medical condition. Two more prisoners surrendered on 5 April, the same day as the Home Office announced a public inquiry into the riot headed by Lord Woolf. By this time plans to retake the entire prison by force had been scrapped due to the likelihood of fatalities among prisoners or prison officers. That evening the police and prison officers introduced new tactics designed to weaken the resolve of the prisoners and to prevent them from sleeping. Loud music was played, lights were