HM Prison Highpoint North (formerly called Highpoint Prison and Edmunds Hill Prison) is a Category C men's

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 the village of Stradishall (near Haverhill) in

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

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 ...

. 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

The site of Highpoint North Prison opened in 1938 as an RAF base. On its closure in 1970, the RAF base was briefly converted into a transit camp for

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

refugee A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

s. The prison opened in 1977 as Highpoint Prison. In 1997, the North part of Highpoint became a women's prison. On 3 October 2003, two years after the July 2001 separation of the North and South prisons, the North prison became HMP Edmunds Hill. The prison was then converted into a Category C Male establishment in January 2005. Moors Murderer

Myra Hindley The Moors murders were a series of child killings committed by Ian Brady and Myra Hindley in and around Manchester, England, between July 1963 and October 1965. The victims were five children—Pauline Reade, John Kilbride, Keith Bennett, Lesl ...

had been imprisoned there for almost five years before she died in

West Suffolk Hospital West Suffolk Hospital is a small district general hospital in Bury St Edmunds, England. It is managed by the West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust. History The hospital was built in a former Ordnance Depot in Hospital Road in Bury St Edmunds. It wa ...

on 15 November 2002, having been hospitalised as a result of a heart attack at Highpoint. In October 2006, 10 inmates rioted at the prison, damaging toilets and shower facilities. The riot started after the inmates were caught with home brew. Another home brew was involved in riots that occurred less than a year later, when inmates crafted a liquor from

Marmite Marmite ( ) is a British savoury food spread based on yeast extract, invented by the German scientist Justus von Liebig. It is made from by-products of beer brewing ( lees) and is produced by the British company Unilever. Marmite is a vegan ...

and fruit juice. In May 2007 a report from the Independent Monitoring Board criticised the prison for the neglect of foreign nationals and the treatment of mentally ill offenders at the prison. The report also raised concern that the prison had lacked a

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

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 ...

for two years. The prison was renamed Highpoint North prison in 2011.

The prison today

The Category C men's prison has an

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

department, and work opportunities for inmates in Data Input, Contract

Cleaning Cleaning is the process of removing unwanted substances, such as dirt, infectious agents, and other impurities, from an object or environment. Cleaning is often performed for beauty, aesthetic, hygiene, hygienic, Function (engineering), function ...

Garden A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate bot ...

Horticulture Horticulture (from ) is the art and science of growing fruits, vegetables, flowers, trees, shrubs and ornamental plants. Horticulture is commonly associated with the more professional and technical aspects of plant cultivation on a smaller and mo ...

, and

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 ...

. Other facilities include a

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 ...

and prison chaplaincy. The prison complex consists of six buildings. Three of these are residential treatment units which combine to house 160 men. The remaining three house 67 men each. There is also a Prison Visitor Centre which is operated by the

Ormiston Children and Families Trust Ormiston Trust is a charitable trust based in London, England. It is a grant-making trust that chiefly assists schools and organisations supporting children and young people. The trust was established in the memory of Fiona Ormiston Murray who ...

Notable former inmates

Boy George George Alan O'Dowd (born 14 June 1961), known professionally as Boy George, is an English singer-songwriter and DJ who rose to fame as the lead singer of the pop band Culture Club. He began his solo career in 1987. Boy George grew up in Eltham a ...

Ali Dizaei Jamshid Ali Dizaei (, transliteration: ''Jamshīd ʿAlī Dizaī''; ) (born 1962) is a British-Iranian former police officer who was convicted of misconduct in a public office and perverting the course of justice in 2012. After starting his pol ...

* Linda Calvey

References

External links

pages on Highpoint North

HMP Highpoint - HM Inspectorate of Prisons Reports
{{Prisons in the East of England Highpoint North Prisons in Suffolk 2003 establishments in England Highpoint North Borough of St Edmundsbury