Inmate at HMP Norwich suffers serious injuries in fall from height
HMP Norwich, where Matthew Gray was found hanged. Photo : Steve Adams - Credit: Steve Adams
An inmate at a Norfolk prison suffered serious injuries following a fall from height in its exercise yard.
Last month, a prisoner at HMP Norwich found a way of scaling a structure in the exercise yard of the facility on Knox Road.
The incident, which happened on December 4, then saw the man get stuck in barbed wire surrounding it, before later falling from the structure's roof.
The man suffered serious injuries as a result of the incident and the exercise yard had to be closed the following day to allow for reinforcements to be made to the barbed wire.
A spokesman for the Prison Service said: "A prisoner was taken to hospital following an incident on December 4.
"Robust safety measures are in place at all prisons to help prevent incidents like this occurring.”
Meanwhile, the prison remains in the midst of a Covid-19 outbreak, which has seen several inmates test positive for the virus. However, to date, it has yet to be revealed how many prisoners were affected by the outbreak.
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The most recent figures for the Heartsease area of the city, where the prison sits, shows an infection rate of 440 cases per 100,000 people - however, this had previously been as high as 900 cases per 100,000.
Documents seen by this newspaper, however, have shown that at one point at the start of December there were 60 individual cases at the prison.
George Nobbs, the county councillor who represents the Crome division, where the ward it, said he had anecdotally been told the figure was higher, however.
Norfolk County Council leader George Nobbs. - Credit: Archant Norfolk
Calling for greater clarity over the numbers, he said: "My view is that the best thing the Ministry of Justice can do is give us truthful, honest figures. People are getting frustrated and deserve to have some kind of figure to allay their concerns.
"I've been contacted by a number of people in my area and they too want to know."
An MoJ spokesman said: "We have taken precautionary measures at Norwich, in line with public health guidance, following a number of positive cases and will continue to closely monitor the situation.”
