HM Prison Deerbolt is a male Category C Training Prison in

Barnard Castle Barnard Castle (, ) is a market town on the north bank of the River Tees, in County Durham, England. The town is named after and built around a medieval castle ruin. The town's Bowes Museum has an 18th-century Silver Swan automaton exhibit ...

County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...

, England. The prison is operated by

His Majesty's Prison Service His Majesty's Prison Service (HMPS) is a part of HM Prison and Probation Service (formerly the National Offender Management Service), which is the part of His Majesty's Government charged with managing most of the prisons within England and ...

History

Deerbolt prison opened in 1973, on the site of a former

army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

camp. In 1999 four inmates escaped from Deerbolt while with an outside working party. A year later a report from

His 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 Deerbolt was dangerously overcrowded, with too many inmates and too few resources. There was a major disturbance at the prison in February 2005 involving six inmates who caused tens of thousands of pounds' worth of damage to the prison

chapel A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...

. There was another large disturbance at the prison the following June. Deerbolt Prison was praised by inspectors in 2005 for improving activity and resettlement services but was criticised for inmates spending too much time in their cells. In 2007 prison officers passed a

vote of no confidence A motion or vote of no confidence (or the inverse, a motion or vote of confidence) is a motion and corresponding vote thereon in a deliberative assembly (usually a legislative body) as to whether an officer (typically an executive) is deemed fi ...

in the then governor Deborah Baldwin after D wing and F wing at Deerbolt Prison was taken over by inmates in a five-hour

riot A riot or mob violence is a form of civil disorder commonly characterized by a group lashing out in a violent public disturbance against authority, property, or people. Riots typically involve destruction of property, public or private. The p ...

. Four prison officers were injured at the premises during the disturbance. His Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons assessment of the prison in June 2011 was that it was fundamentally safe, but work was required to reduce levels of violence and improve discipline. It was noted that the prison had a "challenging population", but staff had worked hard to make improvements since 2007. The prison was inspected again in 2015. It was described as "a decent and generally safe prison" although some aspects of teaching provision were said to require urgent attention. On 8 January 2020 four prison officers were hurt when it was reported that the prison authorities had lost control of a wing. An external team of prison officers specifically trained to quell riots, designated as a “tornado team”, were called to regain control. The troubles were contained in the early hours of 9 January and the offending prisoners were moved elsewhere.

Present day

Deerbolt is a Category C Training Prison and caters for approximately 500 prisoners with no age limit, generally serving sentences up to four years in length from the north-east of England and

Humberside Humberside () was a non-metropolitan and ceremonial county in Northern England from 1 April 1974 until 1 April 1996. It was composed of land from either side of the Humber, created from portions of the East Riding of Yorkshire, West Riding of ...

area. The education department at the prison is run by Novus, a subsidiary of

The Manchester College The Manchester College is the largest further education college in the United Kingdom and the largest single provider of 16–19, adult and higher education in Greater Manchester, with more than 25% of Greater Manchester’s learning provision ...

, and offers both full and part-time classes in a variety of subjects. Courses include

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

art Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around ''works'' utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, tec ...

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

creative writing Creative writing is any writing that goes beyond the boundaries of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on craft and technique, such as narrative structure, character ...

geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

maths Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, theories and theorems that are developed and proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many areas of mathematics, which include num ...

and

information technology Information technology (IT) is a set of related fields within information and communications technology (ICT), that encompass computer systems, software, programming languages, data processing, data and information processing, and storage. Inf ...

. Workshop jobs are available to prisoners who have first completed a qualification in basic

literacy Literacy is the ability to read and write, while illiteracy refers to an inability to read and write. Some researchers suggest that the study of "literacy" as a concept can be divided into two periods: the period before 1950, when literacy was ...

numeracy Numeracy is the ability to understand, reason with, and apply simple numerical concepts; it is the numerical counterpart of literacy. The charity National Numeracy states: "Numeracy means understanding how mathematics is used in the real world ...

, completed a manual handling course and have done a

first aid First aid is the first and immediate assistance given to any person with a medical emergency, with care provided to preserve life, prevent the condition from worsening, or to promote recovery until medical services arrive. First aid is gener ...

qualification. Courses include

catering Catering is the business of providing food services 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 service ...

, office skills, building

computer A computer is a machine that can be Computer programming, programmed to automatically Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (''computation''). Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic set ...

bricklaying Brickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and Mortar (masonry), mortar. Typically, rows of bricks called ''Course (architecture), courses'' are laid on top of one another to build up a structure such as a brick wall. Bricks ...

plastering Plasterwork is construction or ornamentation done with plaster, such as a layer of plaster on an interior or exterior wall structure, or plaster Molding (decorative), decorative moldings on ceilings or walls. This is also sometimes called parge ...

charity Charity may refer to: Common meanings * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sha ...

workshop,

furniture Furniture refers to objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., Stool (seat), stools, chairs, and sofas), eating (table (furniture), tables), storing items, working, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Furnitur ...

craft, multiskills,

painting and decorating A house painter and decorator is a tradesperson 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 t ...

, motor mechanics and fork-lift truck driving. Deerbolt prison's

gym A gym, short for gymnasium (: gymnasiums or gymnasia), is an indoor venue for exercise and sports. The word is derived from the ancient Greek term " gymnasion". They are commonly found in athletic and fitness centres, and as activity and learn ...

also offers

physical education Physical education is an academic subject taught in schools worldwide, encompassing Primary education, primary, Secondary education, secondary, and sometimes tertiary education. It is often referred to as Phys. Ed. or PE, and in the United Stat ...

qualifications, as well as being available for recreational use. Other facilities and services at the prison include a

library A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

and a prison

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...

cy.

References

External links

Ministry of Justice pages on Deerbolt

HMP Deerbolt - HM Inspectorate of Prisons Reports
{{DEFAULTSORT:Deerbolt Deerbolt Prisons in County Durham 1973 establishments in England