1990 Strangeways Prison riot courts, hangings, castrations and that between eleven and twenty prisoners had been killed. On 3 April the front page of the "Daily Mirror" read "Prison Mob 'Hang Cop' ", and claimed a former policeman imprisoned at Strangeways for rape had been killed by prisoners. The newspaper was forced to publish a retraction admitting that "reliable police sources" had been mistaken, when it transpired that the man was actually alive and imprisoned in HM Prison Leeds. Following the end of the rooftop protest the newspapers condemned the prisoners, with "The Daily Telegraph" describing the riot as "a degrading public spectacle", and
Fremantle Prison riot spread into the rafters, and caused the roof to collapse. The prisoners surrounded their hostages, and in turn were besieged by an armed riot squad inside the prison, and the police riot encircled the prison. Skilled police negotiators communicated with the ring leaders, and by nightfall only five hostages remained. A sixth officer was to have been kept, but was released as he was seriously injured. Meanwhile, the fire brigade had trouble bringing the inferno in the main cell block under control. The prison's gate was too narrow for their trucks to pass, so they had to water the flames