Mount (HM Prison)
Encyclopedia
HM Prison The Mount is a Category C
men's prison
, located on the outskirts of Bovingdon
village in Hertfordshire
, England
. The Mount Prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service
.
. However when the establishment opened in 1987, it was used as a Young Offenders Institution for males aged 18 to 21. This has changed over the years however, and today the prison is used to hold Category C adult male prisoners.
In November 1994, two inmates escaped
from The Mount in a violent breakout. The pair attacked a civilian instructor, tied him up and fled from the bricklaying workshop being held inside the prison. The instructor was taken to hospital suffering from a fractured skull.
In February 2005, an inspection report from Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons
condemned The Mount Prison, claiming that the jail's drug problem was out of control and threatened security and safety of prisoners. Nearly half the inmates said they felt unsafe, 25% had been victims of bullying and another 44% said it was easy to get hold of illegal drugs, according to the inspection report. The inspection also found significant tensions amongst ethnic minorities held at the prison, and that the jail was dirty.
In 2007, The Mount Prison went into a partnership with Hertfordshire Highways for inmates to repair damaged roadwork signs. The prison announced the contract for its offenders learning metalwork, welding and painting skills to repair the broken road signs, as part of training towards qualifications offered at the prison.
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 on the outskirts of Bovingdon
Bovingdon
Bovingdon is a large village in the Chiltern Hills, in Hertfordshire, England, four miles south-west of Hemel Hempstead and it is a civil parish within the local authority area of Dacorum...
village in Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
, 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 Mount 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
The Mount Prison was designed as a Category C Training prison built on the site of the former Bovingdon RAF stationRAF Bovingdon
RAF Bovingdon was a Royal Air Force station, located to the west of Bovingdon, two and a half miles south of Hemel Hempstead and two and a half miles south east of Berkhamsted, in Hertfordshire, UK....
. However when the establishment opened in 1987, it was used as a Young Offenders Institution for males aged 18 to 21. This has changed over the years however, and today the prison is used to hold Category C adult male prisoners.
In November 1994, two inmates 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 The Mount in a violent breakout. The pair attacked a civilian instructor, tied him up and fled from the bricklaying workshop being held inside the prison. The instructor was taken to hospital suffering from a fractured skull.
In February 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...
condemned The Mount Prison, claiming that the jail's drug problem was out of control and threatened security and safety of prisoners. Nearly half the inmates said they felt unsafe, 25% had been victims of bullying and another 44% said it was easy to get hold of illegal drugs, according to the inspection report. The inspection also found significant tensions amongst ethnic minorities held at the prison, and that the jail was dirty.
In 2007, The Mount Prison went into a partnership with Hertfordshire Highways for inmates to repair damaged roadwork signs. The prison announced the contract for its offenders learning metalwork, welding and painting skills to repair the broken road signs, as part of training towards qualifications offered at the prison.