THE Prison Officers Association has dismissed as ridiculous claims by the Ministry of Justice that only three men were involved in unrest at Erlestoke Prison which resulted in more than 100 inmates being moved to other jails.

A spokesman said: "If they say it is only three it is laughable. It is impossible that damage that needed about 130 men to be moved could have been done by three prisoners.

"This was a riot whatever they like to say about it."

He said that specialist riot trained prison officers were called in from across the south west to deal with the situation which did not end until 3am on Sunday.

Prison officers had been worried about the mood in the prison all of last week after several inmates climbed on to an administration block on Monday. A number of assaults described as prisoner on prisoner and prisoner on officers then occurred.

On Saturday prisoners broke out of their cells in two units and it took many hours to get the situation to control.

Yesterday the Ministry of Justice played down the situation and said everything was now resolved. But this was denied by the POA.

The Ministry of Justice said: "On Saturday 11th June two separate incidents involving three prisoners were successfully resolved at HMP Erlestoke.

“The regime is now running as normal, but following some minor structural damage a number of prisoners have been transferred to nearby prisons.

“We are absolutely clear that prisoners who behave in this way will be punished and can spend significantly longer behind bars.

"Those suspected of being actively involved have been moved to higher security prisons and are subject to an ongoing police investigation.”

Devizes MP Claire Perry described what has happened at Erlestoke as unacceptable but said she knew matters were being dealt with appropriately.

She said: "I was saddened to hear of the disturbances at Erlestoke Prison over the last few days.

"These incidents are wholly and utterly unacceptable, and I understand that these matters have been referred to the police to consider charges against the perpetrators.

"I am in close contact with my ministerial colleagues at the Ministry of Justice, and I know that these issues are being dealt with appropriately."