Leyhill Prison
Encyclopedia
HM Prison Leyhill is a Category D
men's prison
, located in the parish of Tortworth
in Gloucestershire
, England
. Leyhill Prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service
.
military hospital
built for the Second World War. The site was converted into a prison in 1946, with inmates originally being housed in hutted accommodation. The prison was rebuilt in the late 1970s to early 1980s, and in 1986 prisoners were re-housed in new living accommodation. In 2002 new accommodation units were added to increase the prison's capacity.
In a March 2002 report, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons
criticised Leyhill for failing to prepare inmates for release, stating that too little was being done to help inmates get ready for the pressures of life outside. The report also claimed that staff had no clear idea of their role at the prison.
In May 2006, it was revealed that more than one inmate a week was escaping
from Leyhill Prison. Statistics showed that 66 prisoners had walked out of Leyhill in the 2005/06 financial year. The Prison Service claimed the amount of escapes was down to population pressures in the UK prison estate, with less trustworthy prisoners being transferred to open prisons like Leyhill.
Leyhill runs a variety of courses designed to help prisoners prepare for release. These include a general joinery
woodwork shop (offering City & Guilds qualifications in Woodwork); a printing
shop; a commercial laundry
; Industrial Cleaning and Car-Valeting training; Waste Management
and Recycling
training; and Forklift truck
and Tractor
Training.
The prison's farms and gardens also provide work and training for prisoners on a 55-hectare estate, including extensive ornamental grounds. There is a nationally important arboretum
run in conjunction with the Forestry Commission
; it is often open to the public.
As an open prison a number of prisoners at Leyhill are placed in the community to complete work and training placements. These placements are designed with the focus of improving a prisoner's chance of successful resettlement in the community on release.
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 parish of Tortworth
Tortworth
Tortworth is a hamlet, and civil parish, near Thornbury in South Gloucestershire, England. It has a population of 150, and is noted for a huge and ancient chestnut tree, believed to be over 1000 years old. The tree, in St...
in Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
, 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...
. Leyhill 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
Leyhill Prison was originally a United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
military hospital
Military hospital
Military hospital is a hospital, which is generally located on a military base and is reserved for the use of military personnel, their dependents or other authorized users....
built for the Second World War. The site was converted into a prison in 1946, with inmates originally being housed in hutted accommodation. The prison was rebuilt in the late 1970s to early 1980s, and in 1986 prisoners were re-housed in new living accommodation. In 2002 new accommodation units were added to increase the prison's capacity.
In a March 2002 report, 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...
criticised Leyhill for failing to prepare inmates for release, stating that too little was being done to help inmates get ready for the pressures of life outside. The report also claimed that staff had no clear idea of their role at the prison.
In May 2006, it was revealed that more than one inmate a week was escaping
Prison escape
A prison escape or prison break is the act of an inmate leaving prison through unofficial or illegal ways. Normally, when this occurs, an effort is made on the part of authorities to recapture them and return them to their original detainers...
from Leyhill Prison. Statistics showed that 66 prisoners had walked out of Leyhill in the 2005/06 financial year. The Prison Service claimed the amount of escapes was down to population pressures in the UK prison estate, with less trustworthy prisoners being transferred to open prisons like Leyhill.
The prison today
Leyhill is a prison for adult male prisoners from the South West area who are deemed "low risk", which usually includes non-violent offenders as well as violent offenders who have made good progress during their time at more secure prisons.Leyhill runs a variety of courses designed to help prisoners prepare for release. These include a general joinery
Joiner
A joiner differs from a carpenter in that joiners cut and fit joints in wood that do not use nails. Joiners usually work in a workshop since the formation of various joints generally requires non-portable machinery. A carpenter normally works on site...
woodwork shop (offering City & Guilds qualifications in Woodwork); a printing
Printing
Printing is a process for reproducing text and image, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing....
shop; a commercial 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...
; Industrial Cleaning and Car-Valeting training; 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 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...
training; and 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...
and Tractor
Tractor
A tractor is a vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery used in agriculture or construction...
Training.
The prison's farms and gardens also provide work and training for prisoners on a 55-hectare estate, including extensive ornamental grounds. There is a nationally important arboretum
Arboretum
An arboretum in a narrow sense is a collection of trees only. Related collections include a fruticetum , and a viticetum, a collection of vines. More commonly, today, an arboretum is a botanical garden containing living collections of woody plants intended at least partly for scientific study...
run in conjunction with the Forestry Commission
Forestry Commission
The Forestry Commission is a non-ministerial government department responsible for forestry in Great Britain. Its mission is to protect and expand Britain's forests and woodlands and increase their value to society and the environment....
; it is often open to the public.
As an open prison a number of prisoners at Leyhill are placed in the community to complete work and training placements. These placements are designed with the focus of improving a prisoner's chance of successful resettlement in the community on release.
Notable former inmates
- Leslie GranthamLeslie GranthamLeslie Michael Grantham is an English actor best known for his role as "Dirty" Den Watts in the soap opera EastEnders. He is also a convicted murderer, having served 10 years for the killing of a German taxi driver, and he generated significant press coverage as the result of an online sex scandal...
, served the final part of a sentence for murder at Leyhill before being released in 1977 and going on to land himself numerous roles as a TVTelevisionTelevision is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
actor, most notably as Den WattsDen WattsDennis Alan "Den" Watts is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by actor Leslie Grantham. He became well known for his tabloid nickname, "Dirty Den"....
in EastEndersEastEndersEastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End... - T. Dan SmithT. Dan SmithThomas Daniel Smith was a British politician who was Leader of Newcastle upon Tyne City Council from 1960 to 1965. He was a prominent figure in the Labour Party in the north east of England, such that he was nicknamed 'Mr Newcastle'...
, the Newcastle politician disgraced by the PoulsonJohn PoulsonJohn Garlick Llewellyn Poulson was a British architect and businessman who caused a major political scandal when his use of bribery was disclosed in 1972. The highest-ranking figure to be forced out was Conservative Home Secretary Reginald Maudling...
affair (it was Smith who encouraged Grantham to go into acting on his release) - Luke McCormickLuke McCormickLuke Martin McCormick is a former English football goalkeeper. He played for Plymouth Argyle between 2003 and 2008, but his contract was cancelled by mutual consent in July 2008 after he caused a car crash which killed two children...
, Former Plymouth Argyle and England youth goalkeeper. Served for death by dangerous driving while two times over the legal limit that killed two young children.
Film and television links
- GreenfingersGreenfingersGreenfingers is a 2000 British comedy film directed and written by Joel Hershman. It is loosely based on a true story about the award-winning prisoners of HMP Leyhill, a minimum-security prison in the Cotswolds, England.-Cast:...
, a 2000 film is loosely based on the story about prisoners from Leyhill and their award-winning entries into the Chelsea Flower ShowChelsea Flower ShowThe RHS Chelsea Flower Show, formally known as the Great Spring Show, is a garden show held for five days in May by the Royal Horticultural Society in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea in Chelsea, London...
.