Male prisoners charged with serious crimes managed to open the back of a prison van following a Supreme Court hearing yesterday.The men began shouting loudly and rocking the van from inside, before managing to push the door open.A police officer intervened to close the door before anyone could get out.Later, another van was rocked and tipped from inside by female prisoners. One occupant could be heard banging and shouting inside, while family members shouted at her not to tip the vehicle right over (see video on our website, www.royalgazette.com).The incidents were the culmination of a tense monthly arraignments session at Supreme Court where defendants entered pleas to serious crimes — many involving guns.As a result, security was tight, with armed officers swarming outside the courtroom. Large numbers of prison guards and police officers were also present inside.Asked about the van incidents, Commissioner of Prisons Edward Lamb said he was awaiting full reports on what had happened, and could not comment as yet.However, he added: “Today was an unusually busy day for monthly arraignments at court. To their enormous credit, despite the unusually high number of inmates, our staff achieved their mission of safely escorting inmates to and from the courts. I commend them all for their efficient and professional efforts on a very challenging day.”A new video link system was installed at Supreme Court earlier this year so defendants on remand in prison could participate via live TV feed from Westgate.One of the benefits was that high-risk prisoners did not have be transported to Hamilton by van, causing a security headache for officials.However, the new system was not working yesterday.Lt Col Lamb said: “We had a technical glitch with the video link, which is being rectified. This resulted in a few inmates having to physically appear in court for whom we would have otherwise used the video conference facility. I expect this problem to be sorted out imminently.”