HM Prison Foston Hall is a women's closed category 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...

 and Young Offenders Institution, located in the village of Foston

Foston, Derbyshire

Foston is a hamlet in the Foston and Scropton civil parish of South Derbyshire, Derbyshire, England, about west of Derby. The Domesday Book of 1086 lists it as Farulveston.-Foston Hall:...

 in Derbyshire

Derbyshire

Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...

, 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

The original Manor of Foston and Scropton was held by the Agard family from the 14th to the 17th century. It was bought by John Bate in 1679. Richard Bate was High Sheriff of Derbyshire

High Sheriff of Derbyshire

This is a list of High Sheriffs of Derbyshire from 1568.The High Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the High Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the responsibilities associated with the post have been...

 in 1705. Brownlow Bate sold the estate to John Broadhurst in 1784. The 17th century manor house

Manor house

A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...

 was destroyed by fire in 1836, but many parts of that house survive.

A new Jacobethan

Jacobethan

Jacobethan is the style designation coined in 1933 by John Betjeman to describe the mixed national Renaissance revival style that was made popular in England from the late 1820s, which derived most of its inspiration and its repertory from the English Renaissance , with elements of Elizabethan and...

 house was designed by T.C. Hine of Nottingham

Nottingham

Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...

 and built in 1863. Its main two storey front has eight bays and an off-centre three-storey tower. The house is now a Grade II listed building.

HM Prison Service acquired the Hall and grounds in 1953. During its Prison Service history Foston Hall has been a Detention Centre, an immigration

Immigration

Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...

 centre, and finally before its closure during 1996 a satellite of Sudbury Prison

Sudbury (HM Prison)

HM Prison Sudbury is a Category D men's prison, located in the village of Sudbury in Derbyshire, England. The prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service.-History:...

. It was re-opened on 31 July 1997, following major refurbishment and building work, as a closed-category female prison.

The prison today

Foston Hall Prison is spread over seven wings that serve a variety of functions. The prison can accommodate 187 convicted prisoners, 80 remand prisoners and 16 juvenile prisoners. Foston Hall also has a Health Care Centre with three inpatient beds.

The prison provides inmates with work the prison garden

Garden

A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The garden can incorporate both natural and man-made materials. The most common form today is known as a residential garden, but the term garden has...

s, the gym

Gym

The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, that mean a locality for both physical and intellectual education of young men...

, the textile

Textile

A textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands...

 and craft

Craft

A craft is a branch of a profession that requires some particular kind of skilled work. In historical sense, particularly as pertinent to the Medieval history and earlier, the term is usually applied towards people occupied in small-scale production of goods.-Development from the past until...

 workshop and the kitchen

Kitchen

A kitchen is a room or part of a room used for cooking and food preparation.In the West, a modern residential kitchen is typically equipped with a stove, a sink with hot and cold running water, a refrigerator and kitchen cabinets arranged according to a modular design. Many households have a...

s, all of which can lead to qualifications. In addition the prison's education department offers NVQs in Cleaning Services and hairdressing, as well as basic and key skills learning.

External links

• Ministry of Justice pages on Foston Hall