Holloway (HM Prison)

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HM Prison Holloway is a prison in the London Borough of Islington, London, United Kingdom. It was originally a mixed prison, but is now a women's prison.

Holloway Prison, c. 1896

[edit] History

It was opened in 1852 as a mixed prison, but due to growing demand for space for female prisoners became female-only in 1903. Prisoners included suffragettes such as Constance Markeivicz, Charlotte Despard and Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington.

It was substantially rebuilt in the 1970s, and remains in use. It stands at the end of a road bearing the name of another prison: Parkhurst Road. In 2005 its operational capacity was 485.

It held Diana Mitford during World War II, and after a personal intervention from Prime Minister Winston Churchill, her husband Sir Oswald Mosley was moved there. They were released in 1943. More recently it housed, in 1966, Moors murderess Myra Hindley, in 1967, Nazi synagogue arsonist Françoise Dior, and in 2002, Maxine Carr who was implicated in the Soham murders.

A total of five judicial executions by hanging took place at Holloway prison between 1903 and 1955:

Amelia Sach and Annie Walters - 3rd February 1903
Edith Thompson - 9th January 1923
Styllou Christofi - 13th December 1954
Ruth Ellis - 13th July 1955

The bodies of all executed prisoners were buried in unmarked graves within the walls of Holloway Prison, as was customary. In 1971 the prison underwent an extensive programme of rebuilding, during which the remains of all the executed women were exhumed. With the exception of Ruth Ellis, the remains of the four other women executed at Holloway (i.e. Amelia Sach, Annie Walters, Edith Thompson and Styllou Christofi) were subsequently reburied in a single grave at Brookwood Cemetery near Woking, Surrey

[edit] In popular culture

The British music group Bush wrote a song about the prison called Personal Holloway, on their CD Razorblade Suitcase. Marillion's song "Holloway Girl" can be found on their album Seasons End. The Kinks' "Holloway Jail" appears on Muswell Hillbillies. Million Dead also have a song called Holloway Prison Blues on their album Harmony No Harmony.