Inmate taken to emergency room after being ‘beaten’ in problematic prison

An inmate at a troubled prison has been rushed to A&E after he was reportedly “beaten” in an attack in his cell. The inmate's family at HMP Parc told WalesOnline he was so badly injured he looked “like the Elephant Man”.

The 42-year-old's family claimed that during the attack at Bridgend Prison, three men entered the inmate's cell and beat him in the face and body with a tuna tin wrapped in a sock and pool cues. “He's got loads of stitches on his lip because it was hanging down and he's got a complete shoe print on his face,” his daughter-in-law said.

G4S, the private security giant that runs Parc, said it had interviewed the man's cellmate and disputed parts of the family's allegations. “Following an incident with another prisoner, a prisoner attended the emergency room for minor injuries and returned to Parc within two and a half hours,” the G4S spokeswoman said. “No weapons were involved.”

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The injured inmate is due to be released from prison in two weeks. His family say he is “really well and trying to keep his head down”. His daughter-in-law said tensions with other inmates had started over “postcodes” – her father-in-law is from Aberdare and the alleged attackers are from Cardiff – and because “he has a bit of a reputation”. She added: “He's 42 and these guys are in their early 20s. They're trying to make an example of him.”

“They took him from his cell. First three boys went in, then others followed them and closed the door behind them. One hit him with a tuna can in a sock, and others hit him in the face and all over his body with billiard cues. His face looks like that of the Elephant Man. His lower lip is badly injured. He is epileptic and any blow to the head could have been fatal.”

Since his release from hospital, the prisoner has reportedly received threats that he will “come out in a body bag”. His family said that since his return, he has been going out into the yard at different times to the prisoners suspected of being involved in the attack. However, they added that he feared for his life since staff told him they intended to move him to another wing. The family claims the worst threats have come from prisoners in that wing.

“It's not like him at all to call and say, 'My life is in danger,' his daughter-in-law said. There is no protection. I tried to speak to the prison last night. It took four and a half hours to get through and then they said there was no one I could speak to. I understand it's a prison, but they have a duty of care. My partner doesn't want to be left without a father.”

In June, G4S replaced Parc's director by mutual consent after riots broke out in the prison and allegations that drug trafficking, violence and corruption were out of control. The death toll among inmates has stood at 13 since the end of February, some of them drug-related or self-harm-related, although the last three deaths are not believed to have been drug-related. Last month, a Justice Department report revealed that the number of self-harm cases in the prison had more than doubled in the last year, rising to a record 2,330 cases, compared with 1,088 the previous year.