HM Prison Durham is a local Category B

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 Elvet

Elvet

Elvet is an area of the city of Durham, in County Durham, in England. It is situated on the opposite side of the River Wear from Durham Cathedral and forms the south-eastern part of central Durham. Elvet is currently unparished. Historically, the word 'elvet' is a word meaning 'swan' or...

 area of Durham

Durham

Durham is a city in north east England. It is within the County Durham local government district, and is the county town of the larger ceremonial county...

 in County Durham

County Durham

County Durham is a ceremonial county and unitary district in north east England. The county town is Durham. The largest settlement in the ceremonial county is the town of Darlington...

, 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...

.

History

Durham Prison was built in the early 19th Century, and is adjacent to Durham's Crown Courts. The prison has held a variety of different categories of prisoners, both male and female over the course of its history. Numerous judicial executions took place on the gallows

Gallows

A gallows is a frame, typically wooden, used for execution by hanging, or by means to torture before execution, as was used when being hanged, drawn and quartered...

 at Durham prison between 1869 and 1958. The final execution took place on 17 December 1958, when Private Brian Chandler (aged 20) was hanged for the murder of Martha Dodd during the course of theft. Chandler was a soldier, based at Catterick camp, who beat 83 year old Dodd to death with a hammer.

In 2001, Durham (which was a Category A prison for men and women at the time) was praised by Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons

Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons

Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons is the head of HM Inspectorate of Prisons and the senior inspector of prisons, young offender institutions and immigration service detention and removal centres in England and Wales...

 for its progressive regime, integration of inmates and falling levels of violence. However in 2003 it was revealed that Durham had the highest suicide rate of all prisons in England.

In 2004, a further report by the Chief Inspector of Prisons criticised Durham Prison for being severely overcrowded. The report also highlighted the lack of education and work opportunities for inmates at the prison.

HMP Durham previously operated a female high security wing with 120 prisoners but this was discontinued and the prisoners transferred elsewhere following reports from HM Inspectorate of Prisons concluding that HMP Durham was unsuitable for housing female prisoners, following several suicides.

On 13th July 2011, it was announced that along with several other prisons, HMP Durham would be put up for market testing.

The prison today

Durham is currently a Category B local prison for convicted and remand adult male prisoners, primarily serving the courts of County Durham, Tyne and Wear

Tyne and Wear

Tyne and Wear is a metropolitan county in north east England around the mouths of the Rivers Tyne and Wear. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972...

 and Teesside

Teesside

Teesside is the name given to the conurbation in the north east of England made up of the towns of Middlesbrough, Stockton-on-Tees, Redcar, Billingham and surrounding settlements near the River Tees. It was also the name of a local government district between 1968 and 1974—the County Borough of...

.
Accommodation at the prison is divided into 7 wings plus Segregation and Healthcare sections.

Durham Prison offers full and part time education to all inmates. Courses include data input, bricklaying, woodwork, painting and decorating, waste management

Waste management

Waste management is the collection, transport, processing or disposal,managing and monitoring of waste materials. The term usually relates to materials produced by human activity, and the process is generally undertaken to reduce their effect on health, the environment or aesthetics...

 and gardening

Gardening

Gardening is the practice of growing and cultivating plants. Ornamental plants are normally grown for their flowers, foliage, or overall appearance; useful plants are grown for consumption , for their dyes, or for medicinal or cosmetic use...

.

Notable former inmates

• Rose West
• Myra Hindley
• Sandra Gregory
  Sandra Gregory
  Sandra Gregory is a British woman who was imprisoned in Thailand for drug smuggling after being caught trying to smuggle heroin out of Bangkok's Don Muang Airport. She later wrote a book about her experiences, titled Forget You Had a Daughter. It was released as a hardback in 2002 by Vision...
  
  
• Carole Richardson
• Judith Ward
  Judith Ward
  Judith Theresa Ward is a British woman known for being a victim of unsafe convictions in 1974 for the bombing of Euston Station in 1973, and of the National Defence College and M62 coach bombings in 1974. Her conviction was quashed and she was released from prison on 11 May 1992...
  
  
• Mary Ann Cotton
  Mary Ann Cotton
  Mary Ann Cotton was an English woman convicted of murdering her children and believed to have murdered up to 21 people, mainly by arsenic poisoning.-Early life:...
  
  
• Ian Brady
• Ronald Kray
• Charlie Richardson
• Eddie Richardson
• Frankie Fraser
  Frankie Fraser
  Francis Davidson Fraser is a former British criminal and gang member who spent 42 years in prison for numerous violent offences.-Early life:...
  
  
• John Straffen
  John Straffen
  John Thomas Straffen was a British serial killer who was the longest-serving prisoner in British legal history. Straffen killed two young girls in the summer of 1951. He was found to be unfit to plead and committed to Broadmoor Hospital; during a brief escape in 1952 he killed again. This time he...
  
  
• John McVicar
  John McVicar
  John McVicar is a British journalist and one-time convicted armed robber.-Career:In the 1960s, he was an armed robber who was tagged "Public Enemy No. 1" by Scotland Yard. He was apprehended and given a 23-year jail sentence. He escaped from prison on several occasions and after his final...
  
  
• Raoul Moat

Film and TV links

• The 1980 British film McVicar
  McVicar (film)
  McVicar is a British drama film released in 1980 by The Who Films, Ltd., starring Roger Daltrey of The Who in the title role of John McVicar...
  
  starring Roger Daltrey
  Roger Daltrey
  Roger Harry Daltrey, CBE , is an English singer and actor, best known as the founder and lead singer of English rock band The Who. He has maintained a musical career as a solo artist and has also worked in the film industry, acting in a large number of films, theatre and television roles and also...
  
  is primarily set in Durham Prison.

External links

• Ministry of Justice pages on Durham