Five Wells Prison, also referred to as Wellingborough Prison, due to it being built on same site as the latter, is a Category C Adult Male

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where Prisoner, people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state ...

, located in

Wellingborough Wellingborough ( ) is a market town in the North Northamptonshire, Unitary Authority area, England, from London and from Northampton, north of the River Nene. Originally named "Wendelingburgh" (the stronghold of Wændel's people), the Anglo ...

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. With a maximum capacity of 1,687, it is the largest prison in the

East Midlands The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire (except for North Lincolnshire and North East ...

, and one of the largest in the UK. The prison is operated by

G4S G4S is a British multinational private security company headquartered in London, England. The company was set up in July 2004 when London-based Securicor amalgamated with Danish firm Group 4 Falck. The company offers a range of services, in ...

History

It was announced in June 2018 that a new Category C prison would be built in Wellingborough on the site of the now demolished HM Prison Wellingborough, which was closed in 2012. In 2020, it was announced the prison would be called "Five Wells", as voted for by Wellingborough residents. The 9 buildings of the prison took 45 weeks to build and were completed in late 2020, costing £253,000,000. The first inmates arrived at the prison in early 2022. In January 2023, videos were released online of inmates smoking

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae that is widely accepted as being indigenous to and originating from the continent of Asia. However, the number of species is disputed, with as many as three species be ...

and taking shots of alcoholic drinks including different varieties of vodka and rum held in inconspicuous bottles, most notably a Robinsons juice bottle. This furtherly perpetuated the controversy and criticism surrounding the prison, as well as of G4S. In April 2024 reports revealed that during the first government inspection of a prison it was found that illegal drugs are widely available and inmates are not suitably supported by staff. Survey showed that just over half of inmates said it was "easy" to get hold of illegal drugs, against an average of 32% in other similar category prisons. In addition 1,256 incidents of inmate self-harm were reported in 12 months.

Criticism

There were various forms of protest about the construction of the prison, including graffiti around Wellingborough town, and most notably a protest in April 2021 outside the prison in which people concreted their arms together, preventing construction vehicles and deliveries entering the prison. This resulted in five arrests due to protesters allegedly becoming hostile to staff and police. The protest was targeted towards the prison's constructor,

Kier Group Kier Group plc is a British construction, services and property group active in building and civil engineering, support services, and the Private Finance Initiative. Founded in 1928 in Stoke-on-Trent it initially specialised in concrete enginee ...

. Multiple protests similar to this occurred throughout the prison's construction.

References

External links

{{Prisons in the East Midlands Wellingborough