TENSIONS are reaching breaking point at troubled Channings Wood Prison amid a series of run-ins with staff and prisoners, including an assault on a guard and a stand-off involving 40 inmates.

It’s been claimed batons were drawn during the Bank Holiday weekend bust-up with the large group of prisoners refusing to go back into the jail after a garden break.

The following day staff were allegedly forced to keep prisoners in their cells over concerns about staffing levels to properly police the prison.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) later conceded there had been an incident at the Denbury facility - but the matter was dealt with promptly.

MoJ also confirmed there had been an attack on a member of staff on April 16 which was being probed by police. The casualty suffered eye socket and cheek bone fractures.

One whistleblower at the prison said staff anxieties were being ignored by the management team.

He said threats against his colleagues and their families were commonplace.

The situation at the prison - which has suffered two damning reports about the regime in the last year - was a nightmare, the critic complained.

Channings Wood was under-staffed - and the problems were getting worse, he maintained.

MoJ has insisted that staffing levels at Denbury are adequate. Some £100m

was being invested every year to deliver safe levels of supervision. Some 2,500 extra posts would be filled.