The Manchester Evening News has uncovered further revelations about one of the city’s prisons through a freedom of information request.

Last month we reported that the flagship title had got hold of the menus from six Greater Manchester jails to find out what had been served up on special occasions such as the Royal wedding.

The FOI request submitted by reporter Deborah Linton found that the menus contained dishes such as Jamaican jerk chicken and lamb passanda.

In her latest request Deborah asked HMP Manchester for a rundown of complaints from inmates at Strangeways prison and found that on average ten complaints a day were being received.

Amongst the complaints were grievances about heating, outstanding DVD orders and the quality of food.

In one case staff had to chase up a newsagent after an inmate had not received his TV listings magazine.

They also had to trawl through CCTV footage following a complaint about a missing flask.

The prison had received 3,500 complaints from prisoners inmates in a year.

Cold showers, the quality of meat in the canteen, a confiscated pen, dodgy milk and  missing newspapers were other grievances received by the prison’s formal complaints system which is handled by a clerk.

Of more than 750 complaints logged in the first three months of this year, only around 30 were of the most serious nature, involving issues with or allegations against staff, such as assault or bullying.

The newspaper reports that HMP Manchester, which has 1,200 prisoners, received so many complaints in the 12 months up to this July that details of only three months’ worth could be released by the Ministry of Justice under time constraints on FOI requests.

The newspaper’s story has attracted more than 130 comments from readers on its website.