Birmingham Prison
© Birmingham MailBirmingham Prison
Inmates were transferred to Birmingham Prison after launching a wrecking spree at another jail - when they were banned from smoking.

The damage ran into hundreds of thousands of pounds as sinks and TVs were trashed and cells flooded at Category C HMP Haverigg in Cumbria.

All jails have to be completely smoke-free by September.

On Tuesday lags in the prison's Langdale wing of HMP Haverigg, in Cumbria, staged a peaceful protest after they were told tobacco would not sold as part of the all-out ban. But anti-riot units were scrambled after violent confrontations broke out, the Mirror reported .

A source said: "The protest turned violent and the whole place went up. Inmates were smashing up cells, flooding them, throwing TVs, breaking up pool tables. Staff were forced to evacuate the wing, which was left looking like a bomb had hit it."

Trouble erupted at 7pm and went on until 4am on Wednesday when prison chiefs called in Tornado Teams to quell the unrest.

The anti-riot units are made up of 50 elite officers dressed in Robocop-style black boiler suits, armed with shields and American-style PR-24 sidearm batons. They tackled a group of 24 inmates - deemed to be the main ringleaders - who were then bused to other jails.

A further 50 inmates were later transferred to prisons in Liverpool and Birmingham.

Glyn Travis of the Prison Officers Association, said prison chiefs had been given "ten years" to address the smoking ban but had failed to act properly. He added: "Now this ban is being rushed into prisons already overcrowded and volatile. It is a lethal cocktail and could lead to more violence and riots."

HMP Haverigg holds 286 Category C and Category D male prisoners.

Prison chiefs have phased in the new policy to just a quarter of prisons so far - but not a single maximum security prison has had the ban implemented.

Mr Travis said: "Haverigg is the one that has had the biggest reaction to date to the smoking ban. We are not even a quarter of the way through the process yet so this will be repeated as more prisoners are being forced to give up smoking
, which also limit their access to drugs. No Category A prison has gone smoke free yet. There are longer-serving prisoners here and the reality is the reaction will be worse."

More than 80 per cent of the UK's 86,000 inmates smoke but a complete ban is being introduced to help protect the health of staff and inmates.

The policy is designed to bring prisons in line with the UK-wide ban on smoking in workplaces.

But in May a leaked memo revealed experts feared violence and drug use was likely to increase in the wake of the smoking ban.

A Prison Service spokesman confirmed the police were investigating the incident at HMP Haverigg.

He said: "Specially-trained prison staff successfully resolved an incident at HMP Haverigg on 22 August.

"There were no injuries to staff or prisoners.

"We do not tolerate violence in our prisons, and are clear that those responsible will be referred to the police and could spend longer behind bars."