A series of eight programmes 5: The Block
Dl is Strangeways' punishment landing, known as the Block. It is a place where men are sent to be punished for breaking prison rules. There is also a segregation unit where prisoners regarded as too subversive to live in the main prison are placed by the Governor for ' good order and discipline '. The officers who work here must be constantly on their guard, for it is a place of tension, where the 'smash up' is almost commonplace.
In tonight's programme we glimpse ' cons' law' (one inmate must never be seen to grass on another), and witness the tension and anguish of a prisoner placed in the controversial strip cell.
Film cameraman DEREK BANKS Sound recordists
MALCOLM DAVIES , MICHAEL TURNER Film editor PETER SYMES Producer REX BLOOMSTEIN