Ian Brown has been transferred to Strangeways Prison in Manchester to serve his four month sentence.
Brown was transferred from the Category D Kirkham Prison in Preston, Lancashire, to the Category A jail shortly after losing his appeal for threatening behaviour on November 2.
From being in an open prison with around 700 inmates classified as being the lowest security risk under Home Office guidelines, he will now be among some of the most dangerous criminals in Britain.
Brown‘s bandmate AZIZ IBRAHIM told NME: “He’ll be in there with all the murderers and bank robbers and he didn’t do anything wrong. He’s just got a Northern wit and it was misunderstood. You shouldn’t end up in Strangeways for it!”
Aziz added that he was due to visit Brown shortly to find out how he was coping. The prison allows inmates two visitors per week.
A spokesman for the prison explained that as it was a ‘holding facility’ for remand inmates, many criminals who were given short sentences saw out their time there, even though they were not classed as Category A prisoners.
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Click for the gig guide The 1,100 inmates spend ten or 11 hours locked up at night, with one or two inmates per cell. The rest of the time they are allowed to mix together in work, during classes or socially until lock-up time. Televisions are also allowed in cells – but only if prisoners ‘earn’ them through good behaviour incentive schemes. All cells have internal sanitation which means no ‘slopping out’.
Strangeways hit the headlines in 1990 when inmates rioted for three weeks over conditions. Two men died and more than 200 prisoners and staff were injured in the disturbances. After the riots, eight of the nine Victorian wings of the 130-year-old building were demolished and the jail was rebuilt at a cost of ’80million – but its reputation lingers on.
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