Glen Parva (HM Prison)
Encyclopedia
HM Prison Glen Parva is a male juvenile's prison
and Young Offenders Institution, located in Leicester
, Leicestershire
, England
. Glen Parva is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service
.
and has always held young offenders. Since its opening in 1974 the establishment has seen considerable expansion and change and now serves a catchment area of over 100 courts, holding a mixture of sentenced, unsentenced, and remand prisoners.
In 1997, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons
walked out of an inspection at Glen Parva because conditions were so bad. After a subsequent inspection a year later, the report stated that there was "hope for the future" for the prison but added that a lot of work still needed to be done, and recommended that some staff should be moved because of their attitude towards inmates.
In July 2002, four inmates from Glen Parva escaped whilst on a two-day camping trip in the Peak District
. Two were caught soon after, but two inmates managed to evade police capture for some time.
In its annual report in 2003, the Board of Visitors revealed two serious cases of unrest at Glen Parva Prison. On one occasion, 16 inmates barricaded themselves inside a building. The report blamed an unprecedented rise in the number of inmates at the prison, and also the fact that some inmates were bored and unsettled, finding themselves hundreds of miles from home.
In November 2004, the Prison Reform Trust
condemned Glen Parva for the high amount of time inmates spent in their cells and for the lack of time spent in "useful activity" at the prison. Statistics for 2003-2004 showed that on average inmates spent just 17.3 hours a week in useful activity, and an average of just another seven hours a week out of their cells.
In February 2010 the prison's Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) described conditions there as "deplorable". Their report said "water from the prison's poorly-maintained toilet plumbing system leaked out of the pipes and seeped through the walls," causing "a horrible smell that fills the corridors and cells on regular occasions" and that the prison "operates within the confines of a sprawling campus of largely shabby buildings which continue to degrade over time, despite the best efforts of the management and staff." The board also warned that the policy of transferring prisoners into Glen Parva from other regions "has recently introduced an increasing level of gang rivalry, thereby adding yet another dimension to an already toxic melting pot".
The Healthcare Centre at Glen Parva has 14 inpatient beds with 24 hour nursing cover. Many health services at the prison are provided by Leicestershire Primary Care Trust.
Education and training provision at Glen Parva is delivered through six skills academies. Courses and programmes on offer include Information Technology
, Computer Aided Design, Business Studies
, Home Economics
, Catering
, ESOL, Art
, Engineering
, Carpentry
, Barbering, Bricklaying, Painting and Decorating, Forklift Truck
Driving, Horticulture
, Gardening
, Physical Education
, Plastic
s, Laundry
, Recycling
and Industrial Cleaning. The prison also has links with organisations such as The Prince's Trust, Age Concern
and National Grid plc
to provide employment for Young Offenders on release.
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 Leicester
Leicester
Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...
, Leicestershire
Leicestershire
Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...
, 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...
. Glen Parva 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
Glen Parva was constructed in the early 1970s as a borstalBorstal
A borstal was a type of youth prison in the United Kingdom, run by the Prison Service and intended to reform seriously delinquent young people. The word is sometimes used loosely to apply to other kinds of youth institution or reformatory, such as Approved Schools and Detention Centres. The court...
and has always held young offenders. Since its opening in 1974 the establishment has seen considerable expansion and change and now serves a catchment area of over 100 courts, holding a mixture of sentenced, unsentenced, and remand prisoners.
In 1997, 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...
walked out of an inspection at Glen Parva because conditions were so bad. After a subsequent inspection a year later, the report stated that there was "hope for the future" for the prison but added that a lot of work still needed to be done, and recommended that some staff should be moved because of their attitude towards inmates.
In July 2002, four inmates from Glen Parva escaped whilst on a two-day camping trip in the Peak District
Peak District
The Peak District is an upland area in central and northern England, lying mainly in northern Derbyshire, but also covering parts of Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, and South and West Yorkshire....
. Two were caught soon after, but two inmates managed to evade police capture for some time.
In its annual report in 2003, the Board of Visitors revealed two serious cases of unrest at Glen Parva Prison. On one occasion, 16 inmates barricaded themselves inside a building. The report blamed an unprecedented rise in the number of inmates at the prison, and also the fact that some inmates were bored and unsettled, finding themselves hundreds of miles from home.
In November 2004, the Prison Reform Trust
Prison Reform Trust
The Prison Reform Trust was founded in 1981 in London, England by a small group of prison reform campaigners who were unhappy with the direction in which the Howard League for Penal Reform was heading, concentrating more on community punishments than on traditional prison reform issues...
condemned Glen Parva for the high amount of time inmates spent in their cells and for the lack of time spent in "useful activity" at the prison. Statistics for 2003-2004 showed that on average inmates spent just 17.3 hours a week in useful activity, and an average of just another seven hours a week out of their cells.
In February 2010 the prison's Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) described conditions there as "deplorable". Their report said "water from the prison's poorly-maintained toilet plumbing system leaked out of the pipes and seeped through the walls," causing "a horrible smell that fills the corridors and cells on regular occasions" and that the prison "operates within the confines of a sprawling campus of largely shabby buildings which continue to degrade over time, despite the best efforts of the management and staff." The board also warned that the policy of transferring prisoners into Glen Parva from other regions "has recently introduced an increasing level of gang rivalry, thereby adding yet another dimension to an already toxic melting pot".
The prison today
Glen Parva Prison is a closed Young Offenders Institution and Remand Centre. Accommodation is divided into ten residential units each having a mixture of single and double cells. All cells have integral sanitation and most have televisions which can be rented by prisoners.The Healthcare Centre at Glen Parva has 14 inpatient beds with 24 hour nursing cover. Many health services at the prison are provided by Leicestershire Primary Care Trust.
Education and training provision at Glen Parva is delivered through six skills academies. Courses and programmes on offer include Information Technology
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
, Computer Aided Design, Business Studies
Business studies
Business studies is an academic subject taught at higher level in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and the United Kingdom, as well as at university level in many countries...
, Home Economics
Home Economics
Home economics is the profession and field of study that deals with the economics and management of the home and community...
, Catering
Catering
Catering is the business of providing foodservice at a remote site or a site such as a hotel, public house , or other location.-Mobile catering:A mobile caterer serves food directly from a vehicle or cart that is designed for the purpose...
, ESOL, Art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
, Engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
, Carpentry
Carpentry
A carpenter is a skilled craftsperson who works with timber to construct, install and maintain buildings, furniture, and other objects. The work, known as carpentry, may involve manual labor and work outdoors....
, Barbering, Bricklaying, Painting and Decorating, Forklift Truck
Forklift truck
A forklift is a powered industrial truck used to lift and transport materials. The modern forklift was developed in the 1920s by various companies including the transmission manufacturing company Clark and the hoist company Yale & Towne Manufacturing...
Driving, Horticulture
Horticulture
Horticulture is the industry and science of plant cultivation including the process of preparing soil for the planting of seeds, tubers, or cuttings. Horticulturists work and conduct research in the disciplines of plant propagation and cultivation, crop production, plant breeding and genetic...
, 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...
, Physical Education
Physical education
Physical education or gymnastics is a course taken during primary and secondary education that encourages psychomotor learning in a play or movement exploration setting....
, Plastic
Plastic
A plastic material is any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids used in the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular mass, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce production costs...
s, Laundry
Laundry
Laundry is a noun that refers to the act of washing clothing and linens, the place where that washing is done, and/or that which needs to be, is being, or has been laundered...
, Recycling
Recycling
Recycling is processing used materials into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution and water pollution by reducing the need for "conventional" waste disposal, and lower greenhouse...
and Industrial Cleaning. The prison also has links with organisations such as The Prince's Trust, Age Concern
Age Concern
Age Concern was the banner title used by a number of charitable organisations specifically concerned with the needs and interests of all older people based chiefly in the four countries of the United Kingdom....
and National Grid plc
National Grid plc
National Grid plc is a multinational electricity and gas utility company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. Its principal activities are in the United Kingdom and northeastern United States and it is one of the largest investor-owned energy companies in the world.National Grid is listed on...
to provide employment for Young Offenders on release.