Prisoner 'will now face punishment' over 12-hour protest on the roof of Strangeways, prison bosses vow

A prisoner who staged a 12-hour protest on the roof of Strangeways "will now face punishment", prison bosses have vowed.

Police said the male inmate "willingly came down from the roof" at about 4.15am this morning (Thursday). Officers swarmed the streets around the perimeter of the city centre prison shortly after 4:30pm yesterday.

Roads in the area were taped off as the man could be seen scaling the roof of one of the buildings in the prison grounds. Wearing a bin bag, the inmate was seen waving his arms in the air and repeatedly shouting at the top of his voice.

READ MORE: Violent armed robbers jailed after targeting brothers of Marcus Rashford and Trent Alexander-Arnold

During the protest, he sketched the words 'FREE IPPZ' on the prison roof and continually shouted out the same phrase. The message is believed refers to The Imprisonment for Public Protection sentence (IPP) sentence, which was abolished in 2012 and branded 'unjust'.

At one stage, he was seen making a love heart gesture and wearing a makeshift poncho as the rain lashed down.

The Manchester Evening News understands that the prison, officially titled HMP Manchester, was put on lockdown during the incident.

The inmate remained on the roof for almost 12 hours as an increasing number of spectators showed up to watch the incident unfold. As the night fell, the protestor could be seen drying his clothes on the roof using one of the shiny metal chimneys, seemingly undeterred by the plummeting temperatures.

The protest eventually came to an end in the early hours of this morning. All police cordons were removed and ambulances were seen leaving the prison at about 4.30pm.

In a statement, a Prison Service spokesperson said: “Staff safely resolved this incident