Actor Russell Brand was ridiculed and taunted by fellow prisoners at HMP Wandsworth after he was convicted of rape and sexual assault charges.
According to the Daily Mail, Brand has been “cringing in fear” as his fellow inmates yelled vulgar epithets at him: “There’s a brand new random number! A brand new random number. Brand, you bastard, you’re not such a fucking wimp now.”
The slogan takes the actor’s name and adds slang for “rapist,” “child molester” or “sex offender,” calling him “a whole new breed of improviser.” The word “lairy” is a British slang term used to describe a person who is loud, arrogant, boisterous or excessive – either in their behavior or in their attire – especially when fueled by alcohol.
However, other inmates may be just part of the problem Bland faces, as Page Six reports HMP Wandsworth has been at the center of several disturbing reports about inmate living conditions.
HMP Wandsworth, a Category B prison which usually houses prisoners who have not yet been sentenced or awaiting transfer to other prisons, often operates beyond capacity.
The Howard League for Penal Reform issued a report after a 2024 raid on the prison, declaring the facility unsafe, staff inattentive and a hotbed of violence and drug abuse among inmates.
Wandsworth is not safe: 10 people have died by suicide since the last inspection, seven of which occurred in the past 12 months. Self-harm rates are high and rising, but around 40 per cent of emergency calls go unanswered within five minutes.
The same report also determined that although the prison was only authorized to house 894 inmates at a time, the facility was housing 1,457 inmates at the time, meaning HMP Wandsworth was operating at 163% of its permitted capacity.
Brand was sent to HMP Wandsworth after being convicted of one charge of rape and three charges of sexual assault. As The Daily Telegraph previously reported, he was also acquitted of two other counts of rape and one of attempted indecent assault.
The charges stem from incidents that allegedly occurred between 1999 and 2009, with Brand admitting to leading a sexually promiscuous lifestyle as a youth but denying all the charges and saying his recent conversion to Christianity has changed his life for the better.