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 which extended to the edges of Oakham. Several prisoners were evacuated from the prison. Trouble started at approximately 0100 BST on 11 April and a fire broke out at the prison during the afternoon. The riot was successfully brought under control at 2245 BST that day. The operation launched by authorities in response to the riot was called Operation Tornado which saw the introduction of specialist riot-trained prison staff. Three prisoners were injured and 75% of the prison was made uninhabitable. The riot started when a prisoner, serving a three-year sentence, confronted staff and refused to return to his room.