Gangs at heart of Moorland violence

The full extent of problems at the site remained unclear, but the Prison Service described the situation as "a very serious matter" and a spokesman said "a high level review" would be started today.

It appeared last night's problems were focused on the adult section of the prison, which also has a young offenders' section, where there had been outbreaks of violence on the two previous nights.

On Wednesday an inmate had to be taken to hospital with head injuries after more than 50 prisoners went on the rampage, starting fires, smashing glass and overturning pool tables,

So called "Tornado" response teams, prison officers in riot gear, had to be called in to restore order and similar action was required again last night.

The fighting is believed to have been prompted when officers tried to stop inmates attacking another juvenile.

It followed a riot the previous night at the unit and prison bosses had already started investigating why tensions escalated between the inmates, many of whom are members of street gangs on the outside.

Three members of staff were assaulted during Tuesday's violence, including one woman who suffered a fractured jaw. None were hurt on Wednesday, but one inmate was taken to an outside hospital to be treated for head injuries.

Eighty-six inmates have been transferred to other prisons across the country because of the damage caused to the buildings.

Yorkshire's director of offender management, Steve Wagstaff, said: "This is quite an unpredicatable group of 18- to 21-year-old men who are quite volatile.

"Many of them belong to gangs on the outside and some of them bring that behaviour into the prisons, so we are investigating it to see if we can work out exactly what the cause was.

"Moorland is a very well-built prison so most of the damage is superficial, but there is quite a bit of flooding, some fire damage, broken glass, overturned pool tables, burnt clothing and the like.

"That will be cleaned out. We will probably have the accommodation in use within a week or so."

A Prison Service spokeswoman confirmed that Tornado teams were called to deal with "a second incident of concerted indiscipline" at the unit, but inmates voluntarily surrendered at 2.10am yesterday.