Inside grenade-wielding ‘Prison SAS’ who stamp out brutal riots… as rampant Spice epidemic pushes them to breaking point

THEY’RE the elite squad who swoop in to prisons to quash riots and terrifying hostage situations – armed with grenades, attack dogs and explosives that can blow off a cell door.

Known as the “SAS of the prison service”, the National Tactical Response Group (NTRG) squad are the last line of defence when violence escalates in the UK’s tinderbox jails, using a mixture of brute force and trained negotiators to bring wings back under control.