HM Prison Lancaster Farms is a category C male prison, located on the outskirts of Lancaster,

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

, England. The prison is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service, and is part of the HMP North Lancashire and Cumbria Estate (along with HMP Haverigg).

History

Lancaster Farms Prison opened in March 1993 as a Young Offenders Institution and remand centre. Two new units were opened at the site in June 1996, doubling the prison's capacity. In May 2001 two of the prison's units were re-roled to hold juvenile prisoners. In August 2001 The

Howard League for Penal Reform The Howard League for Penal Reform is a registered charity in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest penal reform organisation in the world, named after John Howard. It was founded as the Howard Association in 1866 and changed its name in 1921, ...

claimed that conditions at Lancaster Farms Prison failed to meet standards laid out in the

United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (commonly abbreviated as the CRC or UNCRC) is an international human rights treaty which sets out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children. The Con ...

. Research found evidence of bullying, limited access to daylight or open air, lack of specialist training for staff and lack of individual care for inmates at the prison. In July 2003 Lancaster Farms was found to be one of the five highest performing prisons in England and Wales. The league table was compiled by HM Prison Service. In April 2007 a report from

Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons His 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. The current chief inspe ...

stated that conditions were improving at Lancaster Farms, and that the prison maintained a reasonably safe and respectful environment. However the report criticised the amount of time inmates spent in their cells, and urged improvement in the prison's anti-bullying procedures and education opportunities. Over the course of 2008 and 2009, all remaining juvenile inmates were transferred from Lancaster Farms to other prisons and the establishment was dedicated to holding young offenders aged 18 to 21. In September 2014, the prison was once again re-roled to hold category C adult male prisoners from the NW region.

Current status

Lancaster Farms holds only sentenced category C adult males from Northwest England, especially from the

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...

area. The prison, which has four secure units, comprises mostly single occupancy cells although there are some double cells. Activities for inmates at the prison include Learning & Skills, Workshops (including

Painting and Decorating A house painter and decorator is a tradesman responsible for the painting and decorating of buildings, and is also known as a decorator or house painter.''The Modern Painter and Decorator'' volume 1 1921 Caxton The purpose of painting is to imp ...

, Building Trades, Multi-skills,

Art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

Information Technology Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of Data (computing), data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information te ...

Catering Catering is the business of providing food service at a remote site or a site such as a hotel, hospital, pub, aircraft, cruise ship, park, festival, filming location or film studio. History of catering The earliest account of major services be ...

Waste Management Waste management or waste disposal includes the processes and actions required to manage waste from its inception to its final disposal. This includes the collection, transport, treatment and disposal of waste, together with monitorin ...

), Farms & Gardens, Industrial Cleaning and

Physical Education Physical education, often abbreviated to Phys Ed. or P.E., is a subject taught in schools around the world. It is usually taught during primary and secondary education, and encourages psychomotor learning by using a play and movement explorat ...

. Several partner organisations are located on-site, they include

Lancashire Probation Trust Lancashire Probation Trust is a criminal justice agency responsible for punishing and rehabilitating offenders in Lancashire, England. It is one of 35 probation trusts in England and Wales that make up the National Probation Service. The Minist ...

, Lancashire Youth Offending Team, Manchester College, Lancashire Care

Foundation Trust A foundation trust is a semi-autonomous organisational unit within the National Health Service in England. They have a degree of independence from the Department of Health and Social Care (and, until the abolition of SHAs in 2013, their local s ...

, Connexions,

Jobcentre Plus Jobcentre Plus ( cy, Canolfan byd Gwaith; gd, Ionad Obrach is Eile) is a brand used by the Department for Work and Pensions in the United Kingdom. From 2002 to 2011, Jobcentre Plus was an executive agency which reported directly to the Mini ...

, Lifeline, SOVA, the National Youth Advocacy Service, the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams (philanthropist), Georg ...

, the

British Red Cross The British Red Cross Society is the United Kingdom body of the worldwide neutral and impartial humanitarian network the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The society was formed in 1870, and is a registered charity with more ...

and the

Prince's Trust The Prince's Trust ( cy, Ymddiriedolaeth y Tywysog) is a charity in the United Kingdom founded in 1976 by King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) to help vulnerable young people get their lives on track. It supports 11-to-30-year-olds who are u ...

References

External links

Ministry of Justice pages on Lancaster Farms
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lancaster Farms (Hm Prison) Prisons in Lancashire Young Offender Institutions in England 1993 establishments in England Buildings and structures in Lancaster, Lancashire