Wielding a makeshift weapon and screaming threats, the furious prisoner holds a hostage in his cell.
Desperate prison officers have tried negotiating, but all efforts have failed – leaving the life of the captive in imminent danger.
The lights go off. Then, without warning, explosions rip through the air, before four officers storm in and wrestle the inmate to the ground.
These are the high-stakes, high-drama situations the National Tactical Response Group (NTRG) specialises in.
The elite unit is constantly on call to respond to incidents at jails and immigration detention centres across England and Wales, from riots, barricades and rooftop protests to terror attacks.
Fortunately, the hostage scenario described above was a demonstration. But it is far from the worst kind of incident these elite officers have had to deal with.
The Daily Mail was given a rare insight into their work during a tour around the Oxfordshire headquarters of the Operational Response and Resilience Unit (ORRU) – of which the NTRG forms one part.
Half of the NTRG’s 120 officers are based in Kidlington, Oxfordshire and cover a southern region up to Leicester, while the other half operate from Doncaster and cover the north.
Flashbangs explode during a training exercise at the headquarters of the Operational Response and Resilience Unit (ORRU) in Kidlington, Oxfordshire
An officer from the National Tactical Response Group (NTRG) – which is part of the ORRU – arrests a man posting as a hostage taker
Officers on call are required to be on the road within 30 minutes. They were called out 480 times in 2025, ranging from serious disturbances where guards have been forced to retreat from the wings to non-violent issues such as inmates jumping on netting or climbing walls.
Due to the dangers these officers face, we are required to keep their identities secret.
Justice Secretary David Lammy watched on as the officers reenacted a hostage scenario inside a mock-up prison built inside their Oxfordshire compound, a high-security site surrounded by tall fences.
Handpicked from the cream of the prison service, the officers – who include men and women – undergo around a year’s training before being eligible for deployment. But this training continues throughout their career to adapt to the ever-changing threats they face.
They are decked out in stab-proof, flame-resistant vests, armoured gloves and helmets, and armed with pepper spray, smoke bombs, shields and batons.
After the hostage scenario, Mr Lammy was given a demonstration of the ORRU’s other capabilities, including its dog unit.
Sid, a fearsome German Shepherd, was unleashed on a man pretending to wield a gun. He clamped his jaws around the man’s arm – which was fortunately covered by a protective suit.
Specialist ORRU officers became the first prison staff to be equipped with Tasers as part of a trial launched in July last year.
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In another scenario, specialist officers were seen demonstrating the use of a Taser on a violent inmate
Sid, a fearsome German Shepherd, was unleashed on a man pretending to wield a gun. He clamped his jaws around the man’s arm – which was fortunately covered by a protective suit
It followed a string of shocking assaults, including Manchester Arena plotter Hashem Abedi targeting staff at HMP Frankland with boiling oil and homemade weapons.
Four prison officers were injured at the jail in County Durham, with three taken to hospital.
Expert officers are now being equipped with advanced Taser 10 models, which can strike targets at 45ft – compared to 25ft for the Taser 7s they previously used.
Taser 10s can fire ten electrode probes at targets, of which two need to connect to create a circuit that causes instant ‘neuromuscular incapacitation’.
Officers responding to prison security incidents are also being equipped with drones to monitor them from the air.
Mr Lammy also saw a demonstration of a smaller model costing £160 that can be used inside to search landings, corridors and cells before carrying out raids.
The Deputy Prime Minister paid tribute to the unit in an exclusive interview.
‘It’s hugely important that we have tactical support teams that can go into prisons rapidly when there’s a serious incident,’ he told the Daily Mail.
Footage from a Taser training exercise that took place at Kidlington last year
‘What we’re seeing here is the very high end of the prison system. These staff have years of training and run towards danger to help keep our prisons safe.’
Recent inspection reports warned of ‘frightening’ levels of violence at two prisons, HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes and HMP Swaleside in Kent.
Charlie Taylor, the Chief Inspector of Prisons, has repeatedly warned that the tinderbox atmosphere inside jails is being fuelled by drugs and weapons brought in from drones.
The latest statistics showed there were 1,712 drone incidents at prisons across England and Wales between April 2024 and March 2025.
Mr Lammy said the government had invested £6.5million to research anti-drone technology.
‘We’ve got to bear down on the drone issue,’ he said. ‘We’re also building more prison places, so we have less overcrowding.’
A man posing as an inmate is searched and cuffed by a NTRG officer
Richard Vince, executive director at the Prison Service’s directorate of security, said NTRG officers were prepared for any challenges they face in the future.
‘We’ve seen violence increasing – that is a matter of public record – and these guys have to respond to that and be there when things go wrong,’ he told the Mail.
‘They are extremely highly trained and constantly updating their tactics.
‘If you’re inside a prison dealing with an incident, seeing them turn up with their skills and their equipment is hugely reassuring.’
