Angry prisoners have calmed down thanks to soothing music piped to their cells overnight.
Gentle tunes are broadcast from midnight until 8am – but they can be turned off at the inmate’s request.
Selections are said to include acoustic numbers, classical and pan pipe tunes.
The scheme for more than 1,000 cons at HMP Humber, East Yorks, has been hailed as a success in boosting lags moods and behaviour.
Now it could be copied nationwide.
A source said: “Many of these cons would usually listen to hip hop or heavy metal but this has opened them up to more mellow material.
“Most of these men wouldn’t know their arias from their elbow so it’s been a good introduction to different music.
“It seems to have made some folk feel better about being behind bars.”
The same inmates get access to yoga, mindfulness and ukulele lessons. They are all part of a “soft skills” programme praised by jail watchdog the Independent Monitoring Board.
A report last week said measures were taken to deal with cases of “sleep inversion”, where lags stayed up all night and slept all day during lockdown when they were confined to cells for around 22 hours per day.
It said: “Staff continued to have concerns about the periods prisoners were confined and how this would affect their wellbeing, and cause boredom, low mood and sleep inversion.”
The Prison Service said: “Measures to improve mental health can cut violence, aid rehabilitation and stop crimes being committed in future.”
