| Location | Doncaster, England |
|---|---|
| Status | Operational |
| Security class | Category B |
| Capacity | 1145 (February 2009) |
| Opened | 1994 |
| Managed by | Serco Group |
| Director | John Biggin |
HM Prison Doncaster, is a Category B men's private prison, located in the Marshgate area of Doncaster in South Yorkshire, England. The prison is operated by the Serco Group.
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Doncaster Prison was opened in 1994. Management of the prison was originally contracted out by the Home Office to Premier Prison Services Ltd, a joint venture between Serco and US company Wackenhut Corrections. In 2005, Serco bought out Wackenhut and now runs the prison alone.
In 1999, the then Home Secretary Jack Straw was criticised for awarding Doncaster Prison a Charter Mark, when it emerged that Doncaster had worst suicide record of any prison in England and Wales. Jack Straw defended his decision as an "unfortunate coincidence of timing".[1]
In 2004, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons accused Serco of "institutional meanness" at Doncaster Prison, and described conditions there as "squalid".[2] Four years later, an unannounced inspection of the prison found inmates sleeping in toilets because of overcrowding.[3]
In 2006 Doncaster Prison appointed the UK's first black prison governor, former boxer Brian Anderson. [4]
Classified as a 'local remand' prison, Doncaster can hold 1,145 inmates as of August 2007, considerably more than its original design envisaged. Accommodation at the prison comprises three houseblocks, each houseblock has 4 wings and each wing can hold a maximum of 90 prisoners. The Health Care Centre has 29 beds for in-patients on one floor with a further 36 beds on the lower floor for enhanced workers.
The prison provides education – literacy, numeracy, information technology and vocational skills - healthcare, drug and alcohol counselling, and offending behaviour courses. The prison is also a proponent of restorative justice, running an arts and media programme. [5]
Doncaster has links with the local community in order to reduce the chances of former prisoners re-offending. Schemes have been set up with local employers, landlords and other agencies to try to ensure ex-prisoners have a successful resettlement into the community. The prison also has links with a ‘halfway house’ in a nearby town where prisoners can live after release as they adjust to life beyond the prison wall.
The prison has been nicknamed "Doncatraz" by inmates and locals, in reference to the famous Alcatraz prison, in San Francisco Bay. The prison lies close to the River Don, and may seem to be on an 'island' from some locations.
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