The prisoner explains what he witnessed (Picture: Channel 4 Youtube)
A new Channel 4 documentary is exposing life behind bars using prisoners’ own mobile phone footage, highlighting what really goes on.
In one scene, a prisoner reveals witnessing one inmate’s head being ‘melted’ by another prisoner over a £25 debt.
Elsewhere in the first episode of UK Prisons: Inside Survival, scenes of bullying are exposed as well as the experiences the prisoners’ face daily whilst serving time.
In one scene, a prisoner is forced by other prisoners to use a dirty toilet brush full of faces to clean his teeth, as a repayment for debt.
One prisoner tells a story of another consequence of not paying a debt back on time.
‘He nearly killed a guy for £25,’ the anonymous prisoner begins.
‘My cellmate is big, like f**king 25 stone, he grabbed the guy’s collarbone and snapped it. I heard it snap.
‘Got him on the floor, foot on the throat, batteries and assault, beats his face, there was no face left.
‘Then got the kettle, oil – the little squirty bottle – butter, sugar, melted his face.
‘He nearly killed a guy for £25’ (Picture: Channel 4 Youtube)
‘The guy tried to crawl out his cell, as he tried to crawl out the cell, my cellmate grabbed his face and his skin came off.
‘You can see the man’s bones, to the point where I told my cellmate, stop this bro, I do not want to be on an M-charge [murder charge].’
The prisoner continued by describing how the smell of burning skin was like ‘bacon’.
‘Don’t get yourself into debt.’
Other footage shows prisoners being served inedible meals, the result of a food budget of just over £2 per day per prisoner.
One of the main voices through the docuseries is S.P. – a former prisoner who knows first-hand what it’s like to be inside prison.
In the films, he says: ‘You wouldn’t believe some of the stuff that goes on inside, unless you’ve seen it with your own eyes. I’m out now and I ain’t planning on going back.
More: Trending
‘These days, I work with reformed prisoners who share their experiences of being inside, to try and deter young people from making the same mistakes we did. That’s why I started filming on a phone, to show the outside world what prison life is really like.
‘I’m not the only one, phones are commonplace and that is a massive problem for the prison system to deal with. All over the UK prisoners are filming their daily lives, to document what goes on behind the prison walls. They are posting it onto social media sites and if they get caught – they are facing extra time in prison.’
A Prison Service spokesperson told Channel 4: ‘We are creating 20,000 more modern prison places, the biggest prison build programme in a century. We are recruiting more prison staff, boosting their pay and our £100 million security investment has stopped more than 20,000 items of contraband from entering prisons.’
The prison service also said it does not tolerate illicit phones in jail and prisoners found with them should expect to face longer behind bars.
UK Prisons: Inside Survival is available to watch on Channel 4’s Youtube Channel.
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us [email protected], calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.
MORE : David Beckham finally addresses Joe Lycett’s £10,000 shredding stunt in Channel 4 documentary
A new Channel 4 documentary is exposing life behind bars.
