HMP Bullingdon is a Category B/C

Prison security categories in the United Kingdom

There are four prisoner security categories in the United Kingdom used to classify every adult prisoner for the purposes of assigning them to a prison. The categories are based upon the severity of the crime and the risk posed should the person escape....

 men's prison

Prison

A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...

, located in the village of Arncott

Arncott

Arncott or Arncot is a village and civil parish about southeast of Bicester in Oxfordshire. It consists of two neighbourhoods: Lower and Upper Arncott....

 (near Bicester

Bicester

Bicester is a town and civil parish in the Cherwell district of northeastern Oxfordshire in England.This historic market centre is one of the fastest growing towns in Oxfordshire Development has been favoured by its proximity to junction 9 of the M40 motorway linking it to London, Birmingham and...

) in Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. The prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service

Her Majesty's Prison Service

Her Majesty's Prison Service is a part of the National Offender Management Service of the Government of the United Kingdom tasked with managing most of the prisons within England and Wales...

. Bullingdon Prison is named after Bullingdon, the ancient hundred

Hundred (division)

A hundred is a geographic division formerly used in England, Wales, Denmark, South Australia, some parts of the United States, Germany , Sweden, Finland and Norway, which historically was used to divide a larger region into smaller administrative divisions...

 in Oxfordshire.

History

Opened in 1992, Bullingdon was constructed as a ‘new gallery' design prison, with its four main houseblocks divided into three galleried units. A fifth houseblock was added in 1998 which is a two galleried unit, and a sixth added in 2008, another two galleried unit. The prison was highlighted as being dangerously overcrowded in 2002 by Colin Moses (chairman of the Prison Officers Association

Prison Officers Association

The POA: The Professional Trades Union for Prison, Correctional and Secure Psychiatric Workers is a trade union in the United Kingdom "for prison, correctional and secure psychiatric workers." It currently has a membership of 33,500...

) in a speech to the TUC conference. A year later Bullingdon was embroiled in further controversy when Deputy Governor Terence McLaren was arrested for possession of cocaine

Cocaine

Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...

 and child pornography offences. A prisoner escaped from Bullingdon a month later. The prison was again highlighted as the most overcrowded in England in 2004. In 2006 Governor Phil Taylor was criticised after he banned the display of the England flag by warders for fear of upsetting foreign inmates.

The prison today

Bullingdon Prison accepts Category B prisoners from the local courts on remand as well as general Category C prisoners. A range of Work, Education and Training courses are offered, some of which can lead to Open University

Open University

The Open University is a distance learning and research university founded by Royal Charter in the United Kingdom...

 qualifications. The chaplaincy has a full-time Church of England

Church of England

The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

 minister and Imam

Imam

An imam is an Islamic leadership position, often the worship leader of a mosque and the Muslim community. Similar to spiritual leaders, the imam is the one who leads Islamic worship services. More often, the community turns to the mosque imam if they have a religious question...

.

A successful reading group scheme has operated in Bullingdon Prison; authors Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson

Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson is a British journalist and Conservative Party politician, who has been the elected Mayor of London since 2008...

 and Nicci French

Nicci French

Nicci French is the pseudonym of English husband-and-wife team Nicci Gerrard and Sean French, who write psychological thrillers together.-Personal life:...

 have visited the group to join in discussions.

Notable former inmates

• Tony Martin
  Tony Martin (farmer)
  Anthony Edward "Tony" Martin is a farmer from Norfolk, England, who in 1999 killed one burglar and wounded another who had both entered his home...
  
  , the farmer who was convicted of the murder of 16-year-old burglar whom he caught in his house was held briefly at Bullingdon in 2000

External links

• Ministry of Justice pages on Bullingdon