Albany (HM Prison)
Encyclopedia
HMP Isle of Wight - Albany Barracks is a Category B
Prison security categories in the United Kingdom
There are four prisoner security categories in the United Kingdom used to classify every adult prisoner for the purposes of assigning them to a prison. The categories are based upon the severity of the crime and the risk posed should the person escape....

 men's prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...

, situated on the outskirts of Newport
Newport, Isle of Wight
Newport is a civil parish and a county town of the Isle of Wight, an island off the south coast of England. Newport has a population of 23,957 according to the 2001 census...

 on the Isle of Wight
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. The prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service
Her Majesty's Prison Service
Her Majesty's Prison Service is a part of the National Offender Management Service of the Government of the United Kingdom tasked with managing most of the prisons within England and Wales...

.

Albany Barracks is located next to Parkhurst
Parkhurst (HM Prison)
HMP Isle of Wight - Parkhurst Barracks is a prison situated in Parkhurst on the Isle of Wight, operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service.Parkhurst prison is one of the three prisons that make up HMP Isle of Wight, the other two being Camp Hill, and Albany...

, another Male/B prison and close to Camp Hill
Camp Hill (HM Prison)
HMP Isle of Wight - Camp Hill Barracks is a Category C men's prison, located on the outskirts of Newport, Isle of Wight. The prison lies adjacent to Albany and Parkhurst. These have now joined together to form HMP Isle of Wight, and the combined prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison...

, a Male/C prison. These have now joined with Albany to form HMP Isle of Wight.

History

Albany was designed and built as a Category C Training Prison in the early 1960s occupying the site of a former military barracks
Barracks
Barracks are specialised buildings for permanent military accommodation; the word may apply to separate housing blocks or to complete complexes. Their main object is to separate soldiers from the civilian population and reinforce discipline, training and esprit de corps. They were sometimes called...

. Soon after opening in 1967, a decision was taken to upgrade Albany to a Category B prison and, in 1970, Albany became part of the dispersal system. It suffered major disturbances in 1983, which closed most of the Prison for over a year.

In 1992, Albany was redesignated as a Category B Closed Training Prison. In January 1998 Albany changed from being half Vulnerable Prisoner Unit and half Normal Location, and is now exclusively used to house sex offenders and vulnerable prisoners. Albany also operates as an Assessment Centre for the core Sex Offender Treatment Programme.

In August 2001 spikes (designed to stop birds perching) had to be removed from the exterior of Albany Prison after it was discovered that some of the spikes were coming loose. Prison Officers feared that inmates could use the spikes as a weapon against them.

In May 2006 up to 60 prisoners at Albany Prison issued writs demanding compensation from the Home Office
Home Office
The Home Office is the United Kingdom government department responsible for immigration control, security, and order. As such it is responsible for the police, UK Border Agency, and the Security Service . It is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs,...

. The inmates demanded compensation because they were prevented from using the lavatory when security checks were being carried out.

In March 2006 the kitchen providing meals to inmates at Albany prison was awarded a five-star rating for kitchen hygiene by the environmental health department of the Isle of Wight Council
Isle of Wight Council
The Isle of Wight Council is a local council. It is a unitary authority covering the Isle of Wight, South East England. It is currently made up of 40 seats, with the Conservatives as ruling party with 24 councillors at the latest local election in June 2009....

. The inspection of kitchens at 1,900 premises on the Isle of Wight, including schools, church halls, cafes and restaurants found Albany to have a top rating in standards of food preparation, ahead of establishments such as the Royal Yacht Squadron
Royal Yacht Squadron
The Royal Yacht Squadron is the most prestigious yacht club in the United Kingdom and arguably the world. Its clubhouse is located in Cowes Castle on the Isle of Wight in the United Kingdom...

 club.

In October 2008, it was announced that the name Albany could be lost, along with the two other prison names, Parkhurst and Camphill. The three would become part of a cluster prison with one governor in charge. New names for the larger single prison have been suggested as HMP Solent, HMP Mountbatten and HMP Vectis. HMP Isle of Wight was later selected as the new name for the super prison incorporating all three island prisons.

In May 2010 a man dressed as Snoopy
Snoopy
Snoopy is an fictional character in the long-running comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz. He is Charlie Brown's pet beagle. Snoopy began his life in the strip as a fairly conventional dog, but eventually evolved into perhaps the strip's most dynamic character—and among the most recognizable...

 and an accomplice entered the Albany unit, trying to free a prisoner. The pistol the costumed man carried was a water gun
Water gun
A water gun is a type of toy designed to shoot water. Similar to water balloons, the primary purpose of the toy is to soak another person in a game such as water warfare....

. The person the men were trying to free was located in the Camp Hill unit.

The prison today

Albany holds Category B/C sex offenders and vulnerable prisoners. Accommodation at Albany Prison comprises five wings (A to E wings), as well as a separate induction unit and segregation unit. All wings are identical and hold prisoners in single cells with in-cell but no toilet or sink. On each landing there are communal recesses housing toilets and wash basins. There are also payphones on each wing, and one TV room within each wing. There are also two Category C units consisting of single cells with en-suite facilities and communal activity areas inside and outside.

The Isle of Wight College
Isle of Wight College
The Isle of Wight College is a general further education college with a broad curriculum to reflect the needs of the island community. The main campus is sited in a central location on the outskirts of Newport, the county town of the Isle of Wight and the island's principal retail centre...

 provides education at Albany Prison. A range of courses are available including Basic and Key Skills, Art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....

 and Craft
Craft
A craft is a branch of a profession that requires some particular kind of skilled work. In historical sense, particularly as pertinent to the Medieval history and earlier, the term is usually applied towards people occupied in small-scale production of goods.-Development from the past until...

, Information Technology
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...

, Food Hygiene, Business Studies
Business studies
Business studies is an academic subject taught at higher level in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and the United Kingdom, as well as at university level in many countries...

, as well Open University
Open University
The Open University is a distance learning and research university founded by Royal Charter in the United Kingdom...

 Courses. There are also vocational training programmes in: Bricklaying, Painting and Decorating, Horticulture
Horticulture
Horticulture is the industry and science of plant cultivation including the process of preparing soil for the planting of seeds, tubers, or cuttings. Horticulturists work and conduct research in the disciplines of plant propagation and cultivation, crop production, plant breeding and genetic...

, Industrial Cleaning, Woodwork and Tailoring. The prisons gym
Gym
The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, that mean a locality for both physical and intellectual education of young men...

 department also provides physical education
Physical education
Physical education or gymnastics is a course taken during primary and secondary education that encourages psychomotor learning in a play or movement exploration setting....

courses as well as recreational gym. Additional sports facilities include a sportsfield, running track, 3 badminton courts and a weights area.

External links

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