News
Strangeways prisoner that staged rooftop protest named as Joe Outlaw
He is currently serving an IPP sentence
An inmate who escaped and climbed onto the roof of Strangeways prison can be named as Joe Outlaw.
The 36-year-old man, who is an inmate, staged a 12-hour protest on the roof of HMP Manchester — formerly called ‘Strangeways’ — on Wednesday, April 12th.
Police, ambulances and special negotiators rushed to the scene and the surrounding streets were cordoned off as police urged the public to avoid the area.
During his 12-hours scaling the top of the prison building, Outlaw sprayed a message on the roof which read: ‘FREE IPPZ’. The message is thought to refer to The Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences which were abolished by the Legal Aid in 2012 after being branded ‘unjust’.
It is believed there are almost 3,000 prisoners still serving time under the now defunct law in the UK, which sets a minimum but not a maximum term in prison.
He was seen waving his arms in the air and drying his clothes on the chimney vents while wearing a bin bag. He was also seen making a love heart gesture to the crowds of onlookers as it went on into the long, cold, rainy and blustery night.
Outlaw appeared before judge Nicholas Clarke KC at Bolton Crown Court at 10am today, April 13th, having climbed down from Strangeways’ roof at 4.15am.
He admitted to causing criminal damage to his cell at HMP Hindley on January 28th last year. The court heard how during his outburst, he pulled a toilet and a sink away from the wall, flooding the room. He was ‘irate’, prosecutor James Preece said.
Outlaw was jailed for robbery for an indeterminate length of time in 2011, and has 33 previous convictions. In 2019 he attacked another male inmate at HMP Wakefield for which he admitted to.
He was given a 10-month sentence, to run concurrently to the sentence he is currently serving. The 12-hour stint finally came to an end shortly after 4am, on Thursday April 13th, and police said the prisoner ‘ willingly came down from the roof ’ and was ‘back in police custody’.
A Prison Service spokesperson said: “Staff safely resolved this incident and the prisoner will face punishment as disorder in prisons is not tolerated.”
A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Police said: “At around 4:30pm on Wednesday April 12th 2023, officers were called to a concern for welfare of a man on Southall Street.
“Road closures in and around Southall Street will remain in place until further notice. Members of the public are asked to avoid the area.
“There is believed to be no wider threat to the public.”