Episode 3 Crime and Punishment

Today on Crime And Punishment, tracking down the troublemakers.

You've been here two hours, you've had more than two pints.

And focussing new eyes on an old problem.

Can we make sure the camera's on it?

Because we're going to be arresting somebody in a minute.

And here in Bristol Prison,

we'll be recalling one of the last hangings in Britain,

with the officer who witnessed the condemned man's final days.

I suppose he knew it was just a few days,

and if his last appeal went down to the Queen for clemency,

he would hang the next day.

One of the major changes to our justice system

since the Queen came to the throne 60 years ago,

happened in 1969,

with the abolition of the death penalty.

Calls for its return began almost immediately,

with the convictions of the Moors murderers,

Myra Hindley and Ian Brady.

Despite public cries to hang them, the law remained.

Even today, 43 years later,

the debate about capital punishment is still a passionate one.

One of Britain's last executions took place at Bristol Prison

at 8am on the 17th December 1963.

In what became known as the Christmas Hanging,

24-year-old Russell Pascoe paid the ultimate penalty

for his part in the murder of a Cornish farmer...

..at exactly the same time as his partner in crime,

Dennis Whitty, was being hanged at Winchester.

Outside Horfield Prison, as it was known then, a huddle of demonstrators

had been protesting night and day against Pascoe's sentence.

Among them, one of Bristol's MPs, Tony Benn.

Everything that I saw that day confirmed all my feelings about it.

The whole thing was so gruesome, and it reminded me

of the fact that if you execute people,

it's what the system does to you,

and everybody in society.

Benn was moved to write an article for The Guardian.

This was not the flickering thrill of a TV lynching,

but the killing of a real man,

now sweating it out a few yards away behind the high walls,

and who would in 24 hours' time be buried in quicklime,

his death agony over.

Back in the early 1800s, more than 200 crimes,

like stealing sheep and pickpocketing,

were punishable by death.

In those days, hangings were carried out in public,

in a party atmosphere that disgusted critics like Thackeray and Charles Dickens,

who wrote articles attacking the spectacle.

No sorrow, no salutary terror,

nothing but ribaldry, debauchery, levity,

drunkenness and flaunting vice in 50 other shapes.

I should have deemed it impossible that I could have ever felt

any large assemblage of my fellow creatures to be so odious.

Dickens' writing helped bring about the abolition

of public executions in 1868,

only for hangings to continue inside the prison gates

for another hundred years.

Ironically, the move behind closed doors

had taken capital punishment off the political agenda.

But, by 1963 when Pascoe was hanged, the debate on whether or not

to abolish capital punishment was becoming ever more intense.

The fact that it came at Christmas time, just before,

when the mood was obviously changing,

I think helped to bring about an atmosphere favourable

to the abolition of capital punishment.

The controversy was fuelled by two cases in particular.

Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be executed,

was later revealed to have been the victim of terrible abuse

by the man she shot, her lover, David Blakely.

I tried to see the Home Secretary on that occasion,

because I think that was a gross injustice.

These days, attitudes to domestic abuse have changed so much

she'd have been able to plead diminished responsibility,

and experts say she might have received a sentence

of just two or three years for manslaughter.

Derek Bentley was hanged for the death of PC Sidney Miles

during a botched warehouse burglary in Croydon,

even though it was his underage accomplice,

Chris Craig, who fired the lethal shot.

Famously, Bentley was said to have shouted, "Let him have it, Chris."

Debate still rages whether that meant he wanted Craig

to hand over the pistol, or use it to kill the advancing policeman.

Though both Bentley and Craig denied it was ever said at all.

I think where there was a hanging, there was always an argument,

was it right or not?

But whether the guy was really guilty or not

didn't alter the fact that if you took a life

you were taking a moral decision that had to be questioned.

Bentley's family always questioned the decision against him,

and as a result of the campaign, he was posthumously pardoned in 1998.

As for Russell Pascoe,

although he appealed claiming his accomplice, Whitty,

was the murderer, he was turned down, and his execution took place

only a week before Christmas, as Tony Benn wrote at the time.

"This week's hanging in Bristol will probably be the last

"that ever takes place there.

"Meanwhile the public has had its pound of flesh

"and we can sing our carols and eat our Christmas pudding

"free from any slight embarrassment there might have been

"if the execution had been fixed, for example,

"on Christmas Day itself.

"That would have been most inconsiderate."

Tony Benn's forecast was correct.

There were no more hangings at Bristol.

And in the UK as a whole,

only two more people were executed before Parliament debated

halting the death penalty for a five-year trial period in 1965.

In two and a half hours from now we shall know whether or not

hanging for murder is likely to be abolished in Great Britain.

Right up until the vote,

pros and antis were still making their case on live television.

But I believe that this particular penalty for particular people,

namely professional criminals, is the one real deterrent.

This argument about terrorists is the standard argument

that's been put for 150 years in respect of every form

of capital punishment, and has always been proved wrong.

BELLS CHIME

In the event,

the free vote in the Commons went the way of the abolitionists.

200 in favour to 98 against.

It was a momentous event, and I do very well remember

the law being passed, and that was the end of the matter.

And we used to have public executions,

we used to have the thumbscrew, we used to have the rack

and all these things had to be campaigned against.

And although public opinion remains divided about a return

to the death penalty ever since,

its suspension was confirmed four years later.

The abolitionists had won.

This is Bristol Prison's final Record Of Executions book,

and in here we find the details of Russell Pascoe's hanging.

17th December 1963.

It was the last hanging here in Bristol,

cos there's nothing on the next page.

It's got his age, 24, his height, his build, it's even got

the length of the drop of the rope to make sure he died instantly.

I had the opportunity to meet up with prison officer Robert Douglas,

who looked after Pascoe in his final days.

First of all, let's clear something up.

Why was someone appointed to look after a condemned prisoner?

Well, you can't leave him on his own in case he hangs himself,

believe it or not. Only the state can do the final harm.

So he has to have somebody to make sure he doesn't try and cut his wrists, or whatever.

Tell me what it was like in those final days with Pascoe.

What kind of things did you do? What kind of things did you talk about?

Well, the whole six weeks had been fairly easy, playing Monopoly,

cards, listening to the radio, telling him jokes.

But as it got near the end, and it began to look as if he was

going to hang, his appeals, his avenue of appeals of getting off with it had gone down.

It began to be a little bit tense.

I suppose he knew it was just a few days,

and if his last appeal went down to the Queen for clemency,

he would hang the next day.

Was he visited by anybody in those last few days?

The hangman, of course, he came in, gave him a surprise, came in with the governor.

The governor visits a condemned man every day.

And the night before the governor came in,

Harry Allen, the public hangman came in.

Of course, never said who he was.

And when the governor asked Pascoe, "You OK, son?" He said, "Yeah."

And Harry Allen just stuck his hand out.

And, of course, automatically, Pascoe took it.

And shook hands. And then when he left, he said to us,

"Who was that with the governor?"

And we said, "Don't know."

But I had just had supper with Harry Allen before I came on.

-And he said, "That was the

-BLEEP

-hangman, wasn't it?"

And I said, I looked at my mate, Ken, and he nodded, and I said, "Yeah, it was."

-"What's he

-BLEEP

-want to shake hands with me for?"

And I said, "It's just something Albert Pierrepoint used to do, and Harry Allen does it.

"Maybe it makes their conscience feel a bit better."

-"If I'd have known who he was," he said, "I wouldn't have

-BLEEP

-shook hands with him."

Talk me through what happens from the moment Pascoe leaves his cell,

during those final few minutes, and when he gets executed.

Unlike most old prisons, Bristol was a little self-contained block.

And when Harry Allen and his mate went in, to all the visitors,

the people who witness it, had gone in,

Harry Allen and his mate were the last two to go in,

and Harry Allen lit a cigarette before they left,

and put it in the ashtray.

In the officer's mess, straight across, we watched them going in.

And there's a clock at Bristol, a tower with a clock,

and it began to chime, and they'd just walk him straight...

They've already bound his arms,

and the two officers walk him straight on top of the trapdoors.

The officers stand on two planks, and they have a braided rope,

each to hang on to, cos when the trap's open,

they've only got the braided rope and the planks

to save them following Pascoe through the floor.

And we watched Harry Allen go in,

and the clock began to chime eight, and at the fifth chime

we heard - vroomph - the traps open and bang off the padded walls.

And then, about a minute after that, over came Harry Allen out the cell,

out the block again, into the mess and lifted his cigarette,

which was only half burnt.

Took a draw of his cigarette, rubbed his hands and said,

"Any tea on the go?"

And that was as quick as that.

Incredible. Thanks very much indeed...

-You're welcome.

-..for sharing that.

Nice to meet you. Thank you.

Here at Birmingham Central Police Station,

these CCTV cameras look out for crime on city streets,

but technology like this also keeps an eye out

for troublemakers in our football stadiums.

All's quiet today, though, at Villa Park.

Over 3,000 English and Welsh fans were arrested

at international and domestic football matches last year,

but that is nothing compared to the mid '80s,

when football hooliganism was known as the English disease.

Today, things are much improved,

but a local West Midlands derby clash is always a big test.

This was football in the 1980s.

Hooliganism that had been around as long as football itself

had taken a serious turn for the worse.

It reached its pitch in 1985,

culminating in the death of a 14-year-old boy,

crushed when a wall collapsed

following violence at a Birmingham-Leeds match.

And then the tragedy at Heysel, when rioting by English hooligans

caused another wall to collapse,

killing 39 fans and injuring more than 600.

England had the worst reputation in the world for football violence.

Our teams were banned from European club competitions.

The time had come to clamp down hard.

A raft of new legislation gave the police fresh power

to tackle the hooligans and to start to turn the tables.

-HE SHOUTS INDISTINCTLY

-Fast forward 26 years.

In the West Midlands, there's a local Black Country derby

between Premier League teams West Bromwich Albion

and Wolverhampton Wanderers. Tensions are high.

Traditionally, this particular fixture

encourages quite a large number of "risk" fans

- hooligans, if you like, of old - who are going to cause us problems

and come here purely to have a fight.

In the past, there has been hand-to-hand fighting

immediately outside the stadium,

there has been trouble inside the stadium as well.

But, unlike in the '80s, now West Midlands police are ready for them.

Last year what they did do was bring smoke bombs into the stadium.

There is a very strict search regime being put in place

and if anything like that is found,

the expectation is that they will be arrested.

Today, as well as all that, their special football unit,

set up last year,

has team spotters out on the ground tracking down the troublemakers.

PC Andy Francis is a spotter for home team West Brom.

It's a role that didn't exist in the '80s.

He's dedicated to reducing violence between fans

by monitoring their every move before the match

in order to manage their behaviour.

And sometimes, that means he's in the firing line.

Several of the disorders we've been involved in

whereby we've been targeted by fans with bricks, bottles,

fireworks and physical violence.

Andy knows each one of the West Brom "risk" supporters,

and he's hunting them down.

So, we know the normal pubs they use on match days,

and basically we're doing a trawl round those at the moment

to try and identify groups that are drinking in those areas.

Afternoon.

Come on, boys!

How are ya? You all right? How you doing?

# Albion, Albion, Albion, Albion... #

How are you? All right, mate? How are you?

# Albion, Albion... #

-I been out of trouble.

-Nobody's saying...

There's no trouble, there ain't nobody about.

Andy will have to keep on searching till he finds his troublemakers.

We'll come back later to see what happens

in the two hours before kickoff.

Now, every year, 6,000 prisoners harm themselves,

and in 2010, 58 took their own lives.

Although this is the lowest figure since 1996

and the prison staff are highly trained

to look out for the warning signs,

they always have to be on their guard.

On Bristol prison's G Wing, there are around 140 inmates,

some of them young offenders between 18 and 21

doing their first stretch behind bars.

Staff use a monitoring system called ACCT,

which stands for Assessment, Care in Custody, and Teamwork.

A prisoner on the ACCT book is checked throughout the day.

The staff get to know all the prisoners on the wing

to assess the likelihood of self harm, but it's not easy.

Many are only in for a short stay, so there's a constant turnover.

Senior officer Mark Stroud currently has three prisoners

who he knows are at risk.

Danny is one of them. He's been inside for three months.

He's trusted and has a job with Big Sam in the laundry section,

where he's proved to be a good worker.

Danny's currently on an ACCT book

and he has a history of self harming by cutting,

and by his own admission he does it as a coping strategy.

The ACCT book system is designed to minimise distress amongst prisoners,

and hopefully to avert any crisis.

Take a seat, now.

As well as the book itself, which officers use to log

an individual's behaviour, they hold frequent review meetings,

attended by the prisoner, to assess the level of care.

We're here today to review your ACCT book.

I know we spoke about it last night, but to give a bit of history,

you cut yourself to act as a stress relief, as such.

You told me you'd been doing this since you were 12 years old,

so whether you were inside of prison or outside of prison,

you would still be doing it.

OK? It's been open for some time, your ACCT book, now.

I have closed it in the past,

but you've then self-harmed again, all right?

You've had a stable period for the last couple of weeks,

and when I spoke to you last night,

my intention was to talk about closing this book.

But then you produce a note pad

where you've been writing down your thoughts,

which completely changed my view at that time.

Could you just explain

what you've been doing with this notebook, to start with?

OK. And does that help at all?

There's some quite dark stuff in there

where you've talked about self-harm, and possibly ending things.

Um... Do you want to end things?

-OK.

-There's one thing that's come up, now.

There's a chance of you going to a bail hostel.

Now, how do you feel about that?

-Happy.

-Yeah?

OK. Now, obviously the bail hostel have got concerns

with regarding your self-harm.

A bail hostel can't take anyone who's on the ACCT book,

so Danny wants to come off it as soon as he can.

What I would suggest

is eventually, over the next, maybe, seven to ten days,

is look at closing this ACCT document as we go along, yeah?

You're shaking your head, Dan. What's the matter?

-In what sense?

-Well...

No, you've got to tell us.

See, my concern now is,

you've had a bit of bad news and you've gone introvert.

Danny, if I was doing a review today, and that diary wasn't there,

and you were on hourly observations in the daytime,

I wouldn't shut this document anyway.

What I'm suggesting, with everyone's agreement,

is that we meet halfway, OK?

We keep the diary going, reduce the observations

-and do another case review in two days.

-Yep.

Thank you.

Over Danny's objections, the staff are going to delay

the decision on the bail hostel

and keep a very close eye on him for the next few days.

My only fear with that review is that Danny's going to go inward now

rather than express his feelings as he has been by writing them down.

Um...

He wasn't that happy at the end of it,

but we do have a duty of care with all prisoners,

and we do have to address some very poignant problems they may have.

So, that's it. In two days' time

we'll review him again and see how he's feeling.

It's a few days later,

and Danny's had some good news from senior officer Mark Stroud.

Um, they kind of told me that I was off my ACCT book,

so that was good.

Getting things sorted, now. Sort of... Much better.

People working together.

It's good.

His, uh...outlook on life's a lot better.

He still has thoughts of self-harming,

but he has these thoughts every day, even when he's outside of prison,

so we've decided to close his ACCT book.

He's still writing his thoughts down,

and his manager in the CS sees those thoughts every day

and if thoughts are getting more and more dark, shall we say,

he's then to liaise with me.

So, Mark, how is he feeling? And what's happened since?

OK. Since we last spoke about him, he's had his ACCT book closed.

He is feeling a lot better in himself.

He's had ups and downs, don't get me wrong,

but we've supported him through them.

Hopefully, in a couple of weeks, he'll get out of prison.

-That's great news.

-Yeah, it is.

Now, as a Senior Officer, the biggest job for you, of course,

is taking care of the prisoners whilst they're under your care.

That's right.

Self harm, suicide, is a big problem,

-and you've had experience of that, haven't you?

-Yeah.

A few years back, now,

a prisoner who worked for me on the wing

came into prison on an ACCT book,

and eventually ended up killing himself, unfortunately.

I never saw it coming. I really didn't.

It affected me quite badly,

and it affected the other staff on the wing as well.

-So it was quite a sad time.

-Mm.

It goes to show, despite the warning signs,

the fact you're highly trained in these things,

you can't always tell what they're doing in their cells.

Not at all.

We cannot watch them 24 hours a day. Physically impossible.

So if a prisoner is that desperate to take their own life,

unfortunately, they will do it.

-Thanks for talking to us.

-Thank you.

Back at the West Brom and Wolves derby game,

Wolves spotter PC Dickie Horn

is on the look-out for some known troublemakers.

Where you going to, gentlemen?

-You got tickets for the game?

-Yeah.

Show me your tickets, then. Come over here.

It's Dickie's job to make sure no-one who's banned

gets near the grounds.

-And how are you getting to the game?

-Tram.

-On the tram.

'There's one of our risk element, older risk element,

'who came off his football ban at midnight last night.'

And he's already phoned up yesterday to clarify

that he can go to the game today.

And we have already spoken to him

and he states that he is going to the game,

and that he is in the back of the pub just up the road there,

Tap and Spile.

Banning orders came into being in '86, following the Heysel tragedy.

They're a vital weapon in the police armoury.

Two different sorts - a criminal banning order,

which means if they commit a football-related offence,

or an offence linked to football,

we can apply to the courts for them to get a ban,

and also not attend the town or city or the area

where their team are playing away from home.

For those individuals that don't necessarily go far enough to get arrested,

but who we know are actively engaged in organising violence,

we will target those individuals

and apply to the court for a civil banning order.

And Dickie has just come across one of his banned supporters.

He's left the Moon and gone round to the Tap and Spile.

He's come across...

He's been come across by one of our other crews

who were out earlier, and apparently he's been a bit vocal,

causing a bit of a disturbance.

I've had two drinks.

-I've gone to the bookies and you grabbed me.

-That's enough for you.

Enough for me?.

This fan's ban only prevents him from attending the game,

but he could now find himself also on a Section 27 ban,

keeping him out of the whole area.

These are used if we believe the person has been in drink

and potentially causing disorder or has antisocial behaviour,

i.e. He's mouthing off in the street.

You've been in the Moon Under Water

when I checked you at 8:15 this morning.

So you've been out for over two hours, drinking. You've had more than two pints.

MAN JEERS

Locking people up is not always the end and be all of everything.

We can say, "Look, don't be an idiot. You've had one two many, son.

"Here's a form, off you go."

Cos they may be good, decent people, just had one too many beers.

# We hate Albion Say we hate Albion

# We hate Albion Say we hate Albion... #

You going to behave yourselves today?

Eh? What's the matter, Josh?

-What?

-What's the matter?

I hope you behave yourself after last time, all right?

Yeah.

-You do look good, though, now.

-Thanks very much. Thank you.

There's just an hour and half to go till the 12 o'clock kickoff.

In West Bromwich, Andy is coming across

plenty of good-natured revelry.

But he's concerned that he still hasn't located

the worst of his risk group.

I don't want you shouting any abuse.

'It is fairly quiet, yeah.

'There's not the normal amount of people out that we'd expect.'

That doesn't mean to say they're not out.

They're obviously somewhere else,

which hopefully we'll fall upon before the game.

PC Dickie Horn is having more luck in Wolverhampton.

He's found some of his fans in trouble at the tram station.

-Come on, man, he was swearing...

-Oi, oi.

One of the group has been ordered off the tram for swearing.

Your behaviour before was disgusting.

Yeah, he's going to behave himself now.

His mates are doing their best to get him back on board.

OK?

Let him back on, please, mate. Come on.

'We're firm, but fair, I would say.

'You know, they know we're about

'and we're there to stop them committing disorder, crime,'

and as soon as you know who they are, you can see...

We go to away games and the look on their faces

when you walk into the pub that they're in

and they realise you're about!

It's getting close to kickoff.

Time for the spotters to move into the stadium.

Still to come on Crime And Punishment -

with seconds to go before that derby clash, the West Midlands Police

hope all the action will be on the field and not on the terraces.

But that's where the risk group are, surprisingly enough.

Every morning, we all decide on what we're going to wear,

but in prison, that basic right is taken away from you.

In here, you share shirts, socks and even jocks.

And it's all issued from the laundry room by Big Sam.

-Ah, you must be Big Sam.

-Hello.

-Gethin. Nice to meet you.

Pleased to meet you.

So this is the laundry room

or where you get issued your kit as a prisoner.

What would I be given when I first arrive?

You'll get this pack.

That is enough for seven days.

Clean kit - two blankets, two sheets, one pillow case,

two tracksuits, three T-shirts, seven socks, seven boxers,

-a set of plastics.

-Plastics?

Knife, fork, spoon, cup, plate and dish.

Obviously, we can't give the boys metals.

And china plates, or they'll end up smashing and stabbing them.

So we give them the basics in plastic.

And you get two toilet rolls. That's fine for you. Yeah.

But I'd be struggling.

We give out the greens over there for working,

like cleaners, painters. We've also got safety boots.

We ask them to wear the safety boots and the greens

whilst in the workshops.

-We have striped shirts, old-fashioned prison shirts.

-Yeah, they are.

Some of our old-school boys prefer that to tracksuit and T-shirts.

Some prisoners are allowed to wear their own clothes, depending on behaviour?

Depending on behaviour, yeah, you get boys that are on enhanced -

they will get their own clothing as long as it's of suitable nature.

But most prisoners... It cuts down on the bullying aspect.

Like your nice cardigan, it's not my cup of tea, but...

-Really?

-Yeah. You might get bullied for your cardigan.

-Because it'd be a form of, like, currency.

-Start bartering.

-Yeah.

Boys in here get paid 58 pence a session, £1.16 a day.

£1.16 a day?

You look at a packet of tobacco -

that's over half their wages gone on tobacco alone.

-What about your phone calls?

-Tobacco, phone calls -

-That's your weekly wage gone.

-Gone. Yeah.

If you've got no support from family or friends,

you've got no money, is that when...

maybe the bartering starts, the haggling,

possibly even the bullying.

There are anti-bullying policies and strategies

that we do try and keep in place,

but you'll appreciate we can't be all over the place all the time.

And it's obvious that you guys, the officers,

obviously have a good look-out and try and take care of the prisoners.

However, it just proves that it's nowhere near an easy ride here, is it?

Far from it.

People say it's like a holiday camp.

No.

-Is it all new kit for a prisoner?

-No.

-It's all recycled?

-Yeah.

-Right, OK.

It's like, what you've got on today, that kit there,

you'll have this week, and then in two weeks, it'll be on someone else's back.

-Really?

-Like, even your boxers and socks.

Your plastics. Here you go.

As you can see, it's been used before.

Obviously, that cup is just one the boys' drunk out of.

But the plate has been recycled,

it's been sanitised and cleaned and everything.

It's just... It's just...

all the privileges are taken away.

You know, all the things you take for granted outside,

like nice toilet paper or a knife and fork.

-It's just gone.

-Yeah, it is like a different world in here.

The washing machine room. Two machines - two washers, two dryers.

We wash here what we are short on.

-Are these on the go all the time?

-If there's staff in here, yeah.

Out the back is where they do the sorting out of the dirty clothing.

This is what's already been counted today, sorted today.

That's come from the weekend.

Ooh. What do you have to do with this?

All this is going to get picked up on Wednesday afternoon,

taken up to Leyhill. That'll get washed there properly.

-As you can imagine, the boxer shorts are starting to fester now.

-Yeah.

It's not good. Socks, that's the job that I hate the most, the socks.

-Don't touch them.

-That's all right.

-It's just been worn a couple of times.

-Yeah.

So do you fancy coming back in tomorrow, doing a shift out here?

58 pence.

I think I'm going to try and behave myself.

Yeah.

Over the last year, nearly 4.5 million crimes were

recorded in England and Wales.

And police seized an enormous amount of property.

Here's just some of it, piled up high to the ceiling.

It has all got to be kept as evidence.

-The person in charge of that is Karen. Busy already?

-Hello.

What sort of things do you have here? We can see suitcases, what sort of things do you find?

Well, there is an array of things.

You can see videotapes, clothing, mobile phones, you name it,

we have usually got it here somewhere.

And you have to keep it, because this could be potentially crucial?

Yes, these are kept here as evidence for the court case.

Once the court case is over, when the officer decides what to do with it.

Whether we return it to owners, or we get rid of it for the officer.

So it will stay here until that time, it could be months or years.

-And also lots of CCTV as well.

-Lots of CCTV, yes. We have to keep hold of this as well

until the officer says we can get rid of it.

Then it is securely shredded.

What is the strangest thing that you have ever had to look after?

-We have had a false limb handed in.

-You have?

-I have no idea how that happened, but...

-It really has happened?

Yes, somebody has taken the trouble to come into the police station.

And also, something that has changed over the years is this. I can't believe how many you've got!

Yes, I know, there are thousands of mobile phones.

Many of these will have been seized as evidence, won't they?

They will have been lost by someone, seized from somebody

and they all end up here.

As I say, these will be securely disposed of as well.

-Because there is data on it?

-Because you don't want anyone getting

hold of your mobile with your details. So if no owner is traced, they will be crushed.

-Crushed and recycled?

-They will be recycled.

-It's a great shame, really.

-It is a bit of a shame. Thank you very much anyway.

The football match we have been reporting on is about to start

and you would think that finding known troublemakers in a crowd of 25,000 fans

would be like searching for a needle in a haystack.

But today, thanks to cutting-edge technology,

West Midlands Police have an eye on things like never before.

CROWD CHANTS

In the control room at the football ground, there is another team dedicated

to keeping everyone at the match safe.

Inspector Howard Lewis-Jones, head of the police football unit,

is working closely with the club's safety officer, Mark Miles.

These days, the football clubs themselves take safety very seriously.

Thanks to his spotters on the ground, Howard knows exactly where all the potential troublemakers are.

He's got a ticket. He can come in. We know where he is.

Splendid. It has got to be a first at the moment. No arrests.

From this position, high above the ground,

Howard has an excellent view of the inside of the stadium.

But it's today's state-of-the-art technology that really puts him

one step ahead.

It is a world away from policing in the '80s.

The cameras have been put in place by the football club.

We are focusing predominantly on the away fans and the divide between the home and away fans.

But the nice thing about this camera is that not only can we look at it live,

we can zoom in it retrospectively.

For example, if a smoke bomb is set off on the away fans,

more often than not, the first you would see of it on the cameras would be a plume of smoke.

You'd miss the person taking it out of their pocket, lighting it and waving it around.

We can go in, zoom in retrospectively and hopefully get a positive ID.

Just five minutes to kickoff, the fans are being carefully monitored

and searched as they arrive at the ground.

And Howard is moving his officers into position inside.

Bronze 170, 170.

I'm going to need one of your serials to come into the ground onto the home side.

The home side of the divide. Could you let me know which one, please?

We've got another serial coming into here. Very soon you'll have 25,

25, 25 in the corner, and 25 across there.

Tension continues to build as the game gets under way.

CROWD ROARS

The terraces erupt as West Brom score. It is a critical moment.

Howard makes sure that the highest level of command,

Silver Command in a separate police control room, is aware.

Can you let Silver know, 1-0 West Brom as well. Makes a difference.

Just for your information, the stewards will be going into the corner, just to make sure there

are not any smoke bombs that have been left on the floor, discarded.

So if you do see them going in there, that is what they are doing.

It's all under control.

The match continues. They are keeping a careful watch on the known troublemakers, just in case.

Yes, thank you. For your information, that is where the risk fans from West Brom currently are.

That is where we anticipate there will be trouble

if there is going to be any.

That has done it!

That was a good goal.

Howard's prediction is right.

No sooner has a second goal been scored, when smoke can be seen

rising from the corner where the risk supporters are.

The police and stewards act quickly to deal with the disturbance.

Yes, we have got it on camera.

CROWD CHANT

Can we make sure the camera's on it?

Because we are going to be arresting someone in a minute.

Yeah, the flare was taken away straightaway by one of the stewards.

We are just trying to find out whether we can identify from the stewards...

That is where the risk group are. Surprisingly enough.

Unfortunately, this time, the culprit has managed

to let off the smoke bomb unseen by the stewards and police.

He hasn't, though, considered the cameras.

If he is a known hooligan, he will soon be in custody.

But they will need some time to scrutinise the footage.

The match is soon over.

Yeah, just for your information, the stewards are going to start

pushing people away on the home side,

so they have to go away from the actual divide to exit the stadium.

Just for your information.

Once the fans are out of the stadium, the control room starts to relax.

Two arrests.

One with a smoke bomb, which is good.

And one at the end, taken out from the Wolves side.

I'm assuming it was constant,

perpetual, gesticulating, public order type issues.

In recent years, what we have seen

is that degree of violence that's occurred at football matches

has got less and less as each season has progressed.

And I'm pleased that the result of this particular fixture, things have improved again.

Only two arrests made, only one person ejected.

No real issues of significance. So, very, very pleased, very successful event.

Now, I love a bit of cycling, but when it comes to

bike maintenance I'm far from an expert,

but here in the unlikely setting of Bristol Prison

there's a workshop of blokes who know all about putting a bike together.

Poppy, I was not expecting to see this in a prison.

What exactly is happening here?

Lifecycle is working with the prison to give inmates

interesting things to do with their time here.

The project we are running is about refurbishing old bikes.

So we are getting old bikes, bringing them here,

and teaching them how to fix them up.

Then we're taking them out and selling them

to people on low incomes who want to get cycling.

So it is about refurbishing bikes, it is reducing waste, it is getting

more people cycling, which is good for the environment.

But above all, it is about giving people here an opportunity

to learn skills that are really useful.

You must have 40, maybe 50 bikes in the workshop at the moment.

-Where did they come from?

-Well, the public donates them.

Basically, we put out appeals in the local paper and on our website.

And we get some from large organisations. We get some from the police.

-From the police as well?

-Yeah, they come from all over the place.

What kind of response have you had from these guys behind me?

I think... They tell me that they really enjoy being given that opportunity to use their brains.

It is rewarding, it is meaningful, it involves problem-solving.

It is not just putting something in plastic bags and sealing them.

It's much more involved than that.

In terms of the bigger picture,

do you think doing this in this workshop, working every day, helps them

when they leave the prison and go back into the real world?

Well, I really hope so. This is teaching them a really useful skill.

Some of them, I'm sure, will go out and get jobs.

-Have they got the cycling bug?

-I think so.

The problem is that they are not allowed to cycle!

-I mean, there is no...

-They are not allowed to cycle in prison?

-In the prison, yes. You can see there is no...

-What about after?

Do they have a desire to get on their bikes, after?

They have certainly got the mechanic bug.

And then the cycling bug will lead on from there.

That's it from us for today. Join us again for more Crime And Punishment. Goodbye.

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