Peterhead Prison Riot

The Peterhead Prison Riot was a prison riot that occurred on 28 September 1987 at HMP Peterhead, in Peterhead.

Peterhead Prison Riot

Date	28 September 1987 – 1 October 1987
Location	Peterhead Scotland
Cause	Better quality prisons
Motive	Poor prison conditions
Property damage	£55 million (equivalent to £132,989,789 in 2022)

Background

HMP Peterhead was a convict prison in Peterhead, Scotland operated from 1888 to 2013. It was closed in favour of the neighbouring super prison HMP & YOI Grampian. It had a capacity of 152, but at one point in 1911 it was home to 455 prisoners. Among inmates, the prison was known as "Hate Factory" or "Scottish Alcatraz".

Aftermath

The Scottish Prison Service located all those who had been involved in riots and hostage-taking at Peterhead in an attempt to stabilise the entire prison estate. The 60 inmates involved were initially held in "lockdown" under prison rule 36 which meant the governor had to visit each one every day. The repairs cost £55 million (equivalent to £132,989,789 in 2022).

References

• "Peterhead Prison Museum to display unseen riot photos to the public".
• "New exhibition tells '˜inside' story of prison riot". 27 September 2017.
• "The prison riot that ended with the SAS". BBC News. 27 September 2017.
• "Notorious tale of two prison wardens being held hostage on Peterhead Prison roof". 4 June 2022.
• "Photos from a prison riot, which needed the SAS to intervene with smoke bombs, are being made public for the first time". Business Insider.