Ringleader Peter Turner, who is already serving life, was jailed for three and a half years and a second man, Richard Bilsborough was given 27 months.

Three others, Timothy Moore, Wayne Jennings and Grantley Reeves, received a total of six and a half years.

The riot lasted nearly seven hours after a number of prisoners drunk on hooch took control of A wing.

Cell barricaded

Exeter Crown Court heard the riot broke out after prisoners became upset when their cooked breakfast was replaced with a Continental style offering.

Turner was also said to be unhappy with brown training shoes he had been given.

The prisoners, armed with mop handles and chair legs, smashed up the wing causing damage put at nearly �40,000.

Officers in riot gear and shields arrested eight men, but seven others barricaded themselves in a cell before the riot officers went in and detained them.

The rioters, mainly from the Plymouth area, were immediately dispersed to other prisons across the country.

Two men were cleared by the jury and the Crown Prosecution Service decided it was not in the public interest to proceed against the other seven.