Forest Bank saw fans of rapper Chris Brown take their kids to go and see him released on bail. Kit Roberts was there to watch.
09:01, 26 May 2025Updated 09:02, 26 May 2025
A crowd gathered as Chris Brown left HMP Forest Bank(Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)
Most of the time, the entrance to HMP Forest Bank is punctuated by the comings and goings of prisoner vans, visitors, and staff clocking in and out.
The afternoon of May 21 unusually saw the prison get a taste of the rarefied world of celebrities as fans of Chris Brown gathered to catch a glimpse of the rapper as he was released on bail.
Brown was remanded in custody after being arrested at the Lowry Hotel on suspicion of grievous bodily harm at a nightclub in London. He was subsequently bailed after agreeing to a security payment of some £5 million.
It was a hot day outside HMP Forest Bank as two plush Mercedes people carriers arrived, one black, one silver. Brown’s entourage, including a tall, well-built man wearing a t-shirt saying “guardian” and a videographer exited the vehicles. Another was carrying a pair of new trainers.
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A group of fans had been tipped off that Brown was due to be released today. Some might have been waiting outside the prison for hours.
The group wasn’t very large, made up of around 15 people. They were a mix of men and women of various ages willing to stand around in the heat, anxious for any morsels of news about Brown’s imminent departure.
I overheard one say: “I don’t even know any of his songs”, making me wonder why she went at all.
Others had brought their kids with them, some of whom appeared under 10 years old, laughing outside the prison gates. It struck me as an unusual choice for a family day out.
Initially, the excitement had been premature as Brown’s entourage re-embarked and the vans departed with no sign of the rapper.
Rumours started to circulate – the vans were a ruse and Brown was actually slipped out in a prison van when no one was looking, or was he hidden in a laundry basket?
HMP Forest Bank has a sliding wooden door at the entrance large enough for a prison van. It is through this that prisoners enter before the great gate rolls over and shuts out the world.
A large prison transport van rolled up, and the gate yawned open.
Inside the van, prisoners began hammering on the walls. The banging intensified as the van approached the crowd of fans, who whooped and cheered as the van passed, as though the prisoners inside were themselves celebrities.
Who knows who was inside it, or what they made of being cheered into prison.
Brown’s entourage brought a new pair of trainers(Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)
Some minutes later the gate reopened and the van left. There was no banging anymore.
After around half an hour the cry went out – “they’re coming back” and the stillness erupted into activity.
Photographers fell into rank opposite the entrance, while fans lined up outside. One woman, holding a phone which appeared to be livestreaming, encouraged everyone to give Brown a cheer as he passed.
In the end, Chris Brown did not walk out of prison.
A silver van disappeared behind the gateway, fans shouting and screaming encouragement and messages to Brown as the door shut behind it.
After some minutes the great gate slowly rumbled open. Behind it the silver van was waiting, now facing out and flashing its hazard lights. It didn’t stick around.
The gate slides back(Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)
Surging forward, the van brushed past the screaming fans, who shouted, cheered, whooped, and craned their necks to glimpse the rapper in the car. Brown was not visible through the tinted windows.
The van fell into convoy with two other black vans, and was joined by a police van on blue lights. It disappeared off for Brown to continue his world tour under strict bail conditions.
Brown and his co-defendant Omololu Akinlolu are now expected at a hearing at Southwark Crown Court on June 20.
Unfazed by not glimpsing Brown outside the prison, fans rushed to their cars, leaping in and speeding off to the Lowry Hotel. The sound of revving engines and excited shouts faded away, and HMP Forest Bank returned to watchful quiet.