HM Prison Kingston explained

Prison Name:HMP Kingston
Location:Portsmouth, Hampshire
Status:Closed
Classification:Adult Male/Category B&C
Opened:1877
Closed:2013

HM Prison Kingston is a former Category B/C men's prison, located in the Kingston area of Portsmouth, in Hampshire, England. Prior to closure, the prison was operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service. In 2020, work began to convert the site to residential use.

History

Kingston Prison was originally built in 1877 as a Victorian radial design prison. Kingston has had a varied history. At one point the building was used for a boys' borstal, and then became a police station during World War II.

In 1965 capital punishment for murder was abolished in Britain and, as a result, Kingston began exclusively to hold inmates serving life sentences. Kingston became the only prison in England and Wales to have a unit exclusively for elderly male prisoners serving life sentences. In April 2003 a report from Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons stated that the elderly prisoner unit at Kingston provided unacceptable conditions for its inmates. The report detailed that movement in the unit was severely restricted, there was insufficient privacy and the rooms had too little natural light, poor ventilation and in some cases no power points.[1]

Soon afterwards Kingston was redesignated as a more general category B and C prison, the elderly prisoner unit moving to HMP Norwich. From April 2012 Kingston became mainly a Category C prison, holding a high percentage of inmates serving life sentences.

On 10 January 2013 it was announced that Kingston Prison would close "in the next few months", as part of a wider prisons closure programme established by the Ministry of Justice.[2] The prison formally closed on 28 March 2013.[3] The former prison site was put up for sale, though there was a campaign to retain the site for use by the local community.[4] On 24 December 2014 it was announced that Kingston Prison along with Dorchester Prison, Gloucester Prison and Shepton Mallet Prison had been sold to City and Country. For a time, the complex was used to host airsoft games.[5] After a community consultation on the development of the site,[6] the former prison is being converted into 267 homes.[7]

Notable former inmates

External links

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Notes and References

  1. Web site: Prison unit for elderly 'unacceptable' . . 10 April 2003 . 20 September 2008 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20040714013432/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/dorset/2934823.stm . 14 July 2004 .
  2. Web site: Seven prison closures in England announced . 10 January 2013 . BBC News . 3 May 2013.
  3. Web site: Kingston Prison Portsmouth closes gates for last time . BBC News . 28 March 2013 . 12 April 2013.
  4. Web site: Community hub plan for Kingston Prison Portsmouth . 15 March 2014 . BBC News . 14 August 2016.
  5. Web site: UCAP Redemption (Portsmouth Prison) – Ucap Airsoft . ucap.co.uk . 12 January 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200223040825/http://ucap.co.uk/ucap-airsoft-venues/ucap-redemption/ . 23 February 2020 . dead.
  6. Web site: The sale of former prisons in west and south England is agreed . BBC News . 24 December 2014.
  7. Web site: Work begins on 260 homes in Kingston Prison site in Portsmouth. 29 January 2020 .
  8. Web site: 'Mad Butler' dies in prison . BBC News . 31 October 2002 . 12 April 2013.
  9. Web site: Nazi war criminal dies in Britain . BBC News . 7 November 2005 . 12 April 2013.
  10. Web site: Long wait for justice . BBC News . 17 July 2000 . 12 April 2013.