Bare-chested prisoner attacks guards in riot gear as nurses cower in Channel 4 documentary

Two nurses cower just yards from brawling inmates while a bare-chested prisoner attacks prison officers in riot gear with a wooden stick and others hurl bins across a landing.

These shocking scenes were filmed by a TV camera crew at Winchester jail – only months after inspectors warned the Victorian prison was ‘teetering on the edge of a major incident’.

The footage shows the two prison nurses being escorted by a squad of guards and wardens to the cells of inmates with personality disorders so they can administer critical medication.

The terrified medics are pinned up against a wall shielding their heads as missiles including a rubbish bin are thrown at them by prisoners on the opposite landing.

The Channel 4 crew, who spent two years inside the category B and C jail in Hampshire, also filmed four prisoners armed with blades and bats jumping on protective netting laid between the landings – a popular protest tactic because they know staff are forbidden from pursuing them for safety reasons.

One inmate is heard shouting: ‘This is what the prison does to you’ and ‘I want the governor to come see me yeah… if not I’ll hack myself up in my cell.’

The violent two-hour protest over overcrowding and conditions which see most men spend just 45 minutes a day out of their cells came in May last year, five months after the jail was placed in special measures by the Ministry of Justice.

In December 2017, the prison’s Independent Monitoring Board warned of a ‘prevailing sense’ Winchester was on the brink of a major incident.

With too many prisoners and not enough staff, governor Stephanie Roberts-Bibby has been forced to restrict the time men spend out of their cells.

It has led to inmates complaining they are denied phone calls and other privileges as a result. Prison officer Emma Beeson, 26, can been seen on film taking an improvised blade from one inmate, who spent an hour and 40 minutes on the netting.

She said: ‘There’s a lot of power to them involved in jumping on the netting. They’re thinking “yeah, the staff can’t touch me… now you’re paying attention”.

‘We know they don’t get out a lot but obviously when people are out there is the increase in violence and we have to maintain everybody’s safety.’

In August it was claimed that a group of prisoners escaped their cells by using plastic cutlery to pick through the crumbling walls. A month earlier, the Ministry of Justice highlighted ‘serious concerns’ about violence and inmate safety at the jail, built in 1846.

The documentary comes after the Mail reported in 2016 how inmates at another jail were bragging about their cushy life on Facebook.

Prisoners posted images of themselves gorging on steak dinners and downing booze, while their cells were crammed with games consoles and stereos at HMP Guys Marsh in Dorset.

Crime and Punishment starts on Monday at 9pm on Channel 4.