HM Prison Shrewsbury

HMP Shrewsbury

Main entrance to HMP Shrewsbury
Location Shrewsbury, Shropshire
Security class Adult Male/Category B&C
Opened 1793
Closed 2013
Managed by HM Prison Services
Website Shrewsbury at justice.gov.uk
The Dana prison, viewed from Shrewsbury's railway station
Another view of the prison from the adjacent railway station

HM Prison Shrewsbury was a Category B/C men's prison, located in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England, which closed in March 2013.

The former prison site is located on Howard Street, adjacent 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 still often used for the prison, as well as being the name of the road to one side of the prison and the pedestrian route that runs from near the front of the prison into the town centre via a footbridge over the station. A now disused platform (known as platform 8) at the station that is masked from the opposite platform by a high wall was believed to have been used for periodic transporting of prisoners between 1868 and the First World War.

A bust of John Howard, (the prison reformer) is mounted above the main entrance to the prison. The street leading up to the prison from the nearest main road is also named after him.

History

There has been a prison on the site since 1793, the original building being constructed by Thomas Telford to plans by Shrewsbury architect John Hiram Haycock;[1] the present prison building was constructed in 1877. The prison took female convicts until 1922.[2]

Between 1902 and 1961 the following seven people were executed by hanging within the walls of HMP Shrewsbury for the crime of murder:-

The names of their victims appear in parentheses. In almost every case the murder victim was female. Executions took place at 8.00 am. All executed prisoners were buried in unmarked graves inside the prison, as was customary. The four executions which took place during the 1950s were all conducted by Albert Pierrepoint and his assistant. The last execution in 1961 was conducted by Harry Allen and his assistant. In February 2014 the Ministry of Justice stated that the remains of ten executed prisoners were exhumed from the prison in 1972, cremated at a local crematorium and the ashes scattered there.[5]

In September 2004, Member of Parliament George Stevenson,[6] called for an enquiry into the amount of suicides which had occurred at Shrewsbury Prison. This came after 3 inmates had hanged themselves at the jail in 2 weeks.[7]

A report in 2005 named Shrewsbury prison as the most overcrowded in England and Wales. In August 2008 a further report stated that the prison had 178 places in use but held 326 inmates - an overcrowding rate of 183%.[8] A report in June 2012 by the Prison Reform Trust awarded Shrewsbury second place in England and Wales for overcrowding, holding 326 prisoners in space designed for 170 men, a figure exceeded only by Kennet in Liverpool at the time.[9] In 1934, the prison had contained the larger number of 204 cells.[2]

Bust of John Howard above the main entrance.

Before closure, Shrewsbury was a Category B/C prison accepting adult males from the local courts in its catchment area. Accommodation at the prison consisted of double occupancy cells in mostly Victorian buildings. The prison offered education and workshops to inmates. A Listener Scheme was also available to prisoners at risk of suicide or self-harm.

In January 2013, it was announced that the prison was scheduled for closure.[10] The last inmates were transferred from Shrewsbury to other prisons on 27 February 2013, ahead of its closure in March.[11] The Grade II listed former prison building was sold by the Ministry of Justice to developers, the Trevor Osborne Property Group, in 2014, and is expected to be converted into homes and offices.[12] In April 2015, it was revealed proposals included accommodation for around 200 students of the recently created University Centre Shrewsbury.[13]

Notable staff

Former Wales Rugby Union international player John Strand-Jones was part-time Church of England chaplain at the prison from 1930 to 1934.[14]

Cultural links

The prison is mentioned in "On Moonlit Heath and Lonesome Bank" which is part of the poem, "A Shropshire Lad" by A.E. Housman. The proximity of the prison to Shrewsbury railway station and junction is highlighted in the verse:

They hang us now in Shrewsbury jail:/The whistles blow forlorn,/And trains all night groan on the rail/To men that die at morn.

References

  1. ↑ Colvin, H. (2008). A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600-1840 (3rd edition). Yale University Press. p. 482.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Kelly's Directory of Shropshire, 1934. Kelly's. p. 233.
  3. ↑ "This Week in Crime". Truecrimelibrary.com. Retrieved 2013-04-12.
  4. ↑ "Did George Riley deserve to hang?". BBC News. 1 February 2010.
  5. ↑ http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2014/02/21/no-bodies-of-executed-remain-at-old-shrewsbury-prison/
  6. ↑ MP for Stoke South, not the Shrewsbury constituency MP who was then Paul Marsden.
  7. ↑ "MP calls for jail suicide inquiry". bbc.co.uk. 3 September 2004. Retrieved 2009-01-13.
  8. ↑ "County prison ‘most overcrowded’". Shropshire Star. 7 August 2008. Retrieved 2009-01-13.
  9. ↑ "The Dana holds almost double the number of prisoners it should - County jail second most overcrowded". Shropshire Star. 27 August 2012. p. 5.
  10. ↑ "Seven prison closures in England announced". BBC News.
  11. ↑ "BBC News - HMP Shrewsbury prisoners transferred ahead of closure". Bbc.co.uk. 2013-02-27. Retrieved 2013-04-12.
  12. ↑ "BBC News - Dana prison in Shrewsbury to become homes and offices". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-11-23.
  13. ↑ "Dana Cells for Live-In Students". Shropshire Star. 13 April 2015. p. 1.Report by Dominic Robertson.
  14. ↑ Crockford's Clerical Directory 1957-58. p. 631.

External links

Coordinates: 52°42′43.70″N 2°44′51.29″W / 52.7121389°N 2.7475806°W