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
HM Prison Ashwell report of Ashwell cited concerns about prisoners' vulnerability, race relations and the quality of work and training at the prison. In the same year an inmate at the prison escaped from guards while receiving treatment for tuberculosis at the Leicester Royal Infirmary. The prisoner was recaptured days later In July 2008 a new £6m wing with an additional 64 cells was opened at Ashwell Prison. The new wing increased the overall capacity of the prison to 619 inmates. A major riot at Ashwell Prison began on 11 April 2009. During the riot, a three-mile police perimeter was put in place,