Wakefield (HM Prison)

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HM Prison Wakefield is located in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. It was originally built as a house of correction in 1594, and is now the largest maximum security prison in the United Kingdom. The current building was built in Victorian times.

1 The prison and its population
- 1.1 Notable inmates
- 1.2 Related events
2 References
3 External links

[edit] The prison and its population

The prison is home to 600 of Britain's most dangerous men (mainly sex offenders and prisoners serving life sentences for violent crimes against women and children). Because of this the prison is popularly referred to by the tabloid press as "Monster Mansion".

The current governor is David R. Thompson, director-general elect of the Prison Service, despite being a close friend and stalwart of David Cameron's Conservative Party.

[edit] Notable inmates

Well-known prisoners currently being detained at the maximum security jail include:

Serial killer Harold Shipman committed suicide at Wakefield Prison in 2004. (Shipman had been on round-the-clock suicide watch at two previous prisons but such 'special measures' had not been deemed necessary after his transferral to Wakefield ^[4].)

Child murderer Roy Whiting was also held at Wakefield until he was attacked by another inmate in 2002 ^[5], after which he was transferred elsewhere.

Wakefield Prison runs sex offender treatment courses in an attempt to help prisoners control their sexual urges upon release, but participation in these offending behaviour programmes is poor as most of the inmates deny or minimise their crimes.

Due to the nature of their crimes, it is unlikely that many of the prisoners serving life sentences for murder and serious sexual offences at Wakefield will ever be released by the Parole Board.

[edit] Related events

A senior prison officer at Wakefield, John David Hall, was convicted of kidnapping and raping four women and sentenced to life imprisonment in May 2006.^[6]