Shrewsbury (HM Prison)
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HM Prison Shrewsbury is a current operational prison in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England.
The prison is located on Howard Street, near to Shrewsbury railway station, and is near to the site of the Dana Gaol (where a medieval prison once stood before the railway station was built). The name The Dana is used now for the bridge over the railway station and the footpath which links this bridge with Castle Gates, in the town centre. However, The Dana is a name still used for the prison itself.
A report in 2005 named Shrewsbury prison as the most overcrowded in England and Wales. The building is old (Victorian mostly) and has little room nearby to expand. It is bordered by the River Severn, Shrewsbury railway station, a residential area and the railway station's car park. There are currently no proposals to relocate the prison.
The prison, according to Home Office figures, is the only one in England and Wales operating above what is described as its maximum safe overcrowding level. Designed to house just 182 inmates during June 2005, when the prison figures were compiled, it was housing 302 inmates.
HMP Shrewsbury is a Category B (?) Prison (using the UK classification system).
Between 1902 and 1961 the following six people were executed by hanging within the walls of HMP Shrewsbury for the crime of murder:-
- Richard Wigley aged 34 yrs on Tuesday, 18th March, 1902
- William Griffiths aged 57 yrs on Tuesday, 24th July, 1923
- Frank Griffin aged 40 yrs on Thursday, 4th January, 1951
- Harry Huxley aged 43 yrs on Tuesday, 8th July, 1952
- Desmond Donald Hooper aged 27 yrs on Tuesday, 26th January, 1954
- George Riley aged 21 yrs on Thursday, 9th February 1961
All executed prisoners were buried in unmarked graves inside the prison, as was customary.
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