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Men's prison in London, England From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
HM Prison Wandsworth is a Category B men's prison at Wandsworth in the London Borough of Wandsworth, South West London, England. It is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service and is one of the largest prisons in the UK.[2]
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| Location | Wandsworth, London, SW18 |
|---|---|
| Security class | Adult Male/Category B Local |
| Population | 1,562 |
| Opened | 1851 |
| Managed by | HM Prison Services |
| Governor | Katie Price[1] |
| Website | Wandsworth at justice.gov.uk |
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The prison was built in 1851, when it was known as Surrey House of Correction.[3] It was designed according to the humane separate system principle with a number of corridors radiating from a central control point with each prisoner having toilet facilities. The toilets were later removed to increase prison capacity and the prisoners had to "slop out", until 1996.[4]
On 29 July 1879, Catherine Webster was executed for the murder and dismemberment of her mistress, Mrs. Thomas, at Richmond. The murder, which occurred in March, was for the purpose of stealing Mrs. Thomas' property and going to America with a man named Webb. The only witnesses to the execution were the sheriff, the surgeon and the chaplain. No reporters were permitted. The sheriff reported that Mrs. Webster met her death with dignity. The body was buried in a shallow grave on prison grounds and covered in lime.[5]
In 1930, inmate James Edward Spiers, serving a 10-year sentence for armed robbery, took his own life in front of a group of justices of the peace who were there to witness his receiving 15 lashes, then a form of judicial corporal punishment.[6]
In 1951, Wandsworth was the holding prison for a national stock of the birch and the cat o' nine tails, implements for corporal punishment inflicted as a disciplinary penalty under the prison rules.[7] An example of a flogging with the "cat" carried out in Wandsworth Prison itself was reported in July 1954.[8]
On 8 July 1965, Ronnie Biggs escaped from the prison, where he was serving a 30-year sentence for his part in the Great Train Robbery. Two years later he fled to Brazil and remained on the run until 2001, when he returned to the UK.[9]
The prison was originally designed to hold less than a thousand inmates, but as of 2023, there are between 1,300 and 1,500 prisoners.[10]
Wandsworth was the site of 135 executions, between 1878 and 1961. Built in 1878, the gallows was located near the A wing.[11] In 1911, a new gallows was built between the E and F wings, and in 1938 a further gallows was built at the E wing.[11] Among those executed by hanging were:
(in order by date of execution)
On 25 April 1951, a double execution took place at Wandsworth, when Edward Smith and Joseph Brown stood on the gallows together and were executed simultaneously. The final executions at Wandsworth were those of Francis Forsyth on 10 November 1960, Victor John Terry on 25 May 1961 and Henryk Niemasz on 8 September 1961 (Forsyth was one of just four 18-year-olds executed in a British prison in the twentieth century).
With the exceptions of Scott-Ford, who was convicted of treachery, and Joyce and Amery, who were convicted of treason, all executions were for the crime of murder.
The gallows were kept in full working order until 1993 and tested every six months. In 1994, they were dismantled and the condemned suite is now used as a tea room for prison officers.[11] The gallows' trapdoor and lever were sent to the Prison Service Museum in Rugby, Warwickshire. After this museum permanently closed in 2004, they were sent to the Galleries of Justice in Nottingham, where those and an execution box may be seen.
In October 2009, gross misconduct charges were brought against managers of Wandsworth Prison, after an investigation found that prisoners had been temporarily transferred to HMP Pentonville before inspections. The transfers, which included vulnerable prisoners, were made in order to manipulate population figures.[13]
In March 2011, an unannounced follow-up inspection was conducted by the Chief Inspector of Prisons, which found that "...Wandsworth compared badly with similar prisons facing similar challenges and we were concerned by what appeared to be unwillingness among some prison managers and staff to acknowledge and take responsibility for the problems the prison faced."[14]
In May 2015 a prisoner was found dead in his cell, prompting a murder investigation.[15]
On 11 November 2018, a vulnerable and mentally ill 18-year-old Lithuanian national, Osvaldas Pagirys hanged himself in his cell in the prison's segregation unit. Osvaldas, who spoke little-to-no English was detained for extradition to Lithuania for stealing sweets and hanged himself in his cell after a series of failures by the prison. These failings including punishing him for his mental health rather than assisting him, using Google Translate to assess his risk of suicide, not acting on several prior suicide attempts and, on the day of his death, not answering his cell emergency bell for nearly an hour, which could have saved his life.[16]
On 6 September 2023, Daniel Abed Khalife, on remand awaiting trial in relation to terrorism and the Official Secrets Act, escaped from the prison.[17][18] The escape caused significant disruption at airports and ports around the UK due to enhanced security checks.[19] He was found and arrested in the Northolt area on 9 September 2023.[20]
In June 2024, the prison was investigated after a video emerged that allegedly showed a prison officer having sex with one of the inmates.[21]
Wandsworth Prison contains eight wings on two units. The smaller unit, containing three wings, was originally designed for women. This unit houses prisoners who attend full time activities.
Education and training courses are offered at Wandsworth.[22] Facilities at the prison include two gyms and a sports hall. The large prison chaplaincy offers chaplains from the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Methodist, Muslim, Jewish, Sikh, Hindu, Buddhist, Mormon, and Jehovah's Witness faiths.
A BBC investigation showed large-scale drug abuse, with cannabis being openly smoked and harder drugs found. There are allegations of staff corruption, including of staff bringing drugs into the prison.[23] Wandsworth has lost its status as a reform prison. Glyn Travis of the Prison Officers Association said, "Wandsworth staff had bought into the reform process and worked well with the governor to implement the reforms. Now, the prison has lost its reform status and once again, staff and prisoners have been left high and dry as this government's agenda seems to change at the drop of a hat."[24] Wandsworth is the most overcrowded prison in England, and body scanners were not used on visitors to prevent contraband being brought into the prison, allegedly due to shortage of staff. Peter Clarke said, "In essence, there were too many prisoners, many with drug-related or mental-health issues, and with not enough to do." Also, not all staff carried anti-ligature knives despite six suicides since 2015.[25]
Chris Atkins'[26] book A Bit of a Stretch: The Diaries of a Prisoner[27] describes ongoing poor conditions during his stay in 2016–2017 with many of the touted improvements merely being on paper rather than having been implemented. He describes some of the attempted changes as part of the "Prison and Safety Reform (2016)" that were not successful.
 | This section needs additional citations for verification. (June 2024) |
Wandsworth is mentioned in multiple forms of media.
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