HMP Winchester
Encyclopedia
HM Prison Winchester is a Category B
men's prison
, located in Winchester
, Hampshire
, England
. The prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service
.
radial design, with five 'spokes' radiating from a central hub. Four of these are used for prisoner accommodation and one for administration.
Between 1900 and 1963, 16 executions took place at the prison. The last was that of Dennis Whitty
, who had been convicted of capital murder at Cornwall Assizes, who was hanged on December 17, 1963.
In 1995 serial killer Rosemary West
wife of Fred West
was held in Winchester on remand for the duration of her trial in Winchester Crown Court
. Each day of her trial she was driven from her specially built unit within the male segregation block half a mile down the road to the court.
In December 2001, a convicted murderer escaped
from Winchester Prison by scaling the wall. The prisoner went on the run after using a home-made handsaw to saw through the bars of his ground floor cell window. He then used a rope and grappling hook to scale the 30-feet wall of the prison. The prisoner was recaptured days later.
In August 2003, a Prison Reform Trust
report stated that overcrowding at Winchester Prison was an ongoing problem. 54.7% of prisoners were sharing cells which were designed for one person. There had also been 3 suicides at the jail in the previous year.
In April 2005, an inspection report from Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons
stated that Winchester Prison was overcrowded and prisoners did not have enough work to do. The report also said that vulnerable inmates were not well protected and relations between staff and prisoners were not good. However, the report praised prisoner resettlement and improvements in healthcare at the jail.
The Inspectorate was still dissatisfied with Winchester at the last inspection in 2010, stating that staff were unnecessarily rude and that prisoners spent too long in their cells with nothing to do. The team was especially critical of the discrimination that occurred between the West Hill annexe and the main prison in terms of employment and purposeful activity.
By December 2010, the Prison offered a limited selection of Freeview
channels to all cells.
The Regime at HMP Winchester claims to deliver an average of 22 hours of Purposeful Activity per prisoner per week. However, this is regularly disputed by inspection reports and prisoners themselves.
Education at the prison is provided through Manchester College
, and is available irrespective of academic ability, but only limited courses are available to prisoners segregated under Prison Rule 45. Other facilities include a prison gym
.
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...
, located in Winchester
Winchester
Winchester is a historic cathedral city and former capital city of England. It is the county town of Hampshire, in South East England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, and is located at the western end of the South Downs, along the course of...
, Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
, 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...
.
History
Winchester Prison was built to a VictorianVictorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
radial design, with five 'spokes' radiating from a central hub. Four of these are used for prisoner accommodation and one for administration.
Between 1900 and 1963, 16 executions took place at the prison. The last was that of Dennis Whitty
Dennis Whitty
Dennis Whitty was the third-to-last prisoner to be executed by hanging in a British prison. He was 22....
, who had been convicted of capital murder at Cornwall Assizes, who was hanged on December 17, 1963.
In 1995 serial killer Rosemary West
Rosemary West
Rosemary Pauline "Rose" West is a British serial killer, now an inmate at HMP Low Newton, Brasside, Durham, after being convicted of 10 murders in 1995...
wife of Fred West
Fred West
Frederick Walter Stephen West , was a British serial killer. Between 1967 and 1987, he alone, and later, he and his wife Rosemary, tortured, raped and murdered at least 11 young women and girls, many at the couple's homes. The majority of the murders occurred between May 1973 and September 1979 at...
was held in Winchester on remand for the duration of her trial in Winchester Crown Court
Winchester Crown Court
Winchester Crown Court is a law court in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It is owned and operated by HMCS. The most high profile case to be heard there was the Rose West murder trial in 1995....
. Each day of her trial she was driven from her specially built unit within the male segregation block half a mile down the road to the court.
In December 2001, a convicted murderer escaped
Prison escape
A prison escape or prison break is the act of an inmate leaving prison through unofficial or illegal ways. Normally, when this occurs, an effort is made on the part of authorities to recapture them and return them to their original detainers...
from Winchester Prison by scaling the wall. The prisoner went on the run after using a home-made handsaw to saw through the bars of his ground floor cell window. He then used a rope and grappling hook to scale the 30-feet wall of the prison. The prisoner was recaptured days later.
In August 2003, a Prison Reform Trust
Prison Reform Trust
The Prison Reform Trust was founded in 1981 in London, England by a small group of prison reform campaigners who were unhappy with the direction in which the Howard League for Penal Reform was heading, concentrating more on community punishments than on traditional prison reform issues...
report stated that overcrowding at Winchester Prison was an ongoing problem. 54.7% of prisoners were sharing cells which were designed for one person. There had also been 3 suicides at the jail in the previous year.
In April 2005, an inspection report from Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons
Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons
Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons is the head of HM Inspectorate of Prisons and the senior inspector of prisons, young offender institutions and immigration service detention and removal centres in England and Wales...
stated that Winchester Prison was overcrowded and prisoners did not have enough work to do. The report also said that vulnerable inmates were not well protected and relations between staff and prisoners were not good. However, the report praised prisoner resettlement and improvements in healthcare at the jail.
The Inspectorate was still dissatisfied with Winchester at the last inspection in 2010, stating that staff were unnecessarily rude and that prisoners spent too long in their cells with nothing to do. The team was especially critical of the discrimination that occurred between the West Hill annexe and the main prison in terms of employment and purposeful activity.
The prison today
Winchester is a Category B prison for adult males. The prison is currently undergoing major refurbishment with a build programme lasting 5 years. Work already completed includes changes to the health care, first night and detoxification centres, as well as a new electrical system, renewal of the fire and general alarms, a new visits complex and pedestrian access at the main gate. The rebuilding of C wing, that was suffering from age decay, was completed in 2008 and the first prisoners were moved into the new cells in October 2008.By December 2010, the Prison offered a limited selection of Freeview
Freeview
DTV Services, trading as Freeview, is the name for the collection of free-to-air services on the Digital Terrestrial Television platform in the UK. The service is jointly run by its five equal shareholders, BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Sky and transmitter operator Arqiva. DTV Services is designed to market...
channels to all cells.
The Regime at HMP Winchester claims to deliver an average of 22 hours of Purposeful Activity per prisoner per week. However, this is regularly disputed by inspection reports and prisoners themselves.
Education at the prison is provided through Manchester College
Manchester College
Manchester College is a liberal arts and sciences college located in North Manchester, Indiana. It has an enrollment of approximately 1,200 students.-Principles:...
, and is available irrespective of academic ability, but only limited courses are available to prisoners segregated under Prison Rule 45. Other facilities include a prison gym
Gym
The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, that mean a locality for both physical and intellectual education of young men...
.
Notable former inmates
- Dennis WhittyDennis WhittyDennis Whitty was the third-to-last prisoner to be executed by hanging in a British prison. He was 22....
- Basil BuntingBasil BuntingBasil Cheesman Bunting was a significant British modernist poet whose reputation was established with the publication of Briggflatts in 1966. He had a lifelong interest in music that led him to emphasise the sonic qualities of poetry, particularly the importance of reading poetry aloud...
- Keith MannKeith MannKeith Mann is a British animal rights campaigner and writer, alleged by police in 2005 to be at the top of the Animal Liberation Front pyramid. He is the author of From Dusk 'til Dawn: An Insider's View of the Growth of the Animal Liberation Movement...
- Rosemary WestRosemary WestRosemary Pauline "Rose" West is a British serial killer, now an inmate at HMP Low Newton, Brasside, Durham, after being convicted of 10 murders in 1995...
- Peter Cook the cambridge rapist
In popular culture
- The prison appeared in the 1971 Stanley KubrickStanley KubrickStanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
film A Clockwork OrangeA Clockwork Orange (film)A Clockwork Orange is a 1971 film adaptation of Anthony Burgess's 1962 novel of the same name. It was written, directed and produced by Stanley Kubrick...
, as it was used for location shooting, as well as an aerial shot.