Figures reveal scale of rape and violence reported at Salford's troubled Forest Bank prison

Police have investigated 27 reports of rape and 34 other sex crimes as well as 344 alleged crimes of violence at Forest Bank prison since 2018.

They were among 1,648 crimes reported at the troubled, privately-operated prison in five years, according information obtained by the M.E.N.

Last month an M.E.N. investigation into Forest Bank prison uncovered allegations of widespread drug use and inmates who 'run the wings', prompting an MP and Salford's mayor to write to the government to demand an 'urgent' review.

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Our revelations included a call from Salford and Eccles MP Rebecca Long-Bailey for the Ministry of Justice to cancel a billion pound contract it has with Sodexo to run the troubled jail.

Sodexo's contract to run the prison ends on January 19, 2025. Back in 1998, it was awarded a deal worth £1,006,771,964 to design, build and run the prison built on the site of the former Agecroft power station under a private finance initiative to house a maximum 1,064 inmates. The deal was to last 25 years, before being extended.

The facilities management giant, founded and based in France, runs six prisons in England and Scotland, and last year recorded revenues of 21.1 billion euros, including 'underlying operating profit' of more than a billion euros, up 83 per cent.

Now, using freedom of information legislation, the M.E.N. has uncovered the scale of reported crime at the prison since 2018.

Greater Manchester Police confirmed to us it received 1,648 reports of crime at the prison from 2018. In 2018, there were 219 reports of crime at the prison, rising to 238 in 2019 and then to 395 in 2020. It reached a peak in 2021 when there were 539 reports of crime before