Prison attack video is unrelated to recent riots

A video which appears to show prison officers gathered around a person with blood visible on the floor seen millions of times on X (formerly Twitter) wrongly claims to show a “recently imprisoned rioter” “severely slashed up in Strange Ways prison [sic]”. 

The caption shared alongside the clip goes on to ask “why would judges send them to a Class A prison for tweeting or assault” and adds: “Blood is on the Prime Minister's hands if this is true.”

Versions of this post, using the same clip and text, have also been shared on Facebook.

But there is no indication that anyone involved in the video had anything to do with the recent violent disorder seen across England and Northern Ireland. 

A prison service spokesperson told Full Fact: “It is inaccurate to suggest that the prisoners involved in this [video] had taken part in the recent disorder.”

The posts specifically reference Strangeways, a historic men’s high security prison that has been known as HMP Manchester since 1994. 

The prisons service spokesperson did not comment on the location or time of the incident shown in the clip, telling us: “This incident has been referred to the police and it would be inappropriate to comment further.”

A Ministry of Justice source told Full Fact they were not aware of an incident of this kind involving prisoners sentenced for their part in the recent disorder. 

The National Police Chiefs’ Council says more than 1,000 people have been arrested in connection to the unrest, and almost 500 people have been charged with dozens already sentenced for a range of offences. 

We have written about the role misinformation played in the violence seen earlier this month, and have published a number of fact checks specifically relating to false claims about the riots. 

It’s important to verify information shared online yourself before reposting it, especially in the wake of major news stories such as this one. We have written guides to help you to spot misleading images and videos, and created a toolkit to help identify other types of misinformation.