HM Prison Norwich is a Category B/C

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 ...

for adult and juvenile males, located on

Mousehold Heath Mousehold Heath is a freely accessible area of heathland and woodland which lies to the north-east of the Middle Ages, medieval city boundary of Norwich, in the English county of Norfolk. The name also refers to the much larger area of open ...

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

, Norfolk and 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

Norwich opened as a prison in 1887 on the site of the Britannia Barracks the former home of the

Royal Norfolk Regiment The Royal Norfolk Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army until 1959. Its predecessor regiment was raised in 1685 as Henry Cornwall's Regiment of Foot. In 1751, it was numbered like most other British Army regiments and named ...

. The impressive barrack block which stood behind the facade served as a Category C prison for some years from the 1970s but was demolished in the 1980s and replaced by a modern Category B prison block. The Victorian prison which stands at the end of Knox Road behind the old Barracks site was built in the mid-19th century as part of the reformation of the penal system brought about by reformers, including

Elizabeth Fry Elizabeth Fry (née Gurney; 21 May 1780 – 12 October 1845), sometimes referred to as Betsy Fry, was an English prison reformer, social reformer, philanthropist and Quaker. Fry was a major driving force behind new legislation to improve the tr ...

. The prison has had a variety of roles over the years, but today acts as a prison for Category B & C inmates. In January 2003, 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 ...

criticised Norwich Prison for factors including poor cleanliness and the failure of its anti-drug and anti-bullying programmes. The report also criticised the lack of work and education opportunities. In November 2004, the

Prison Reform Trust The Prison Reform Trust (PRT) was founded in 1981 in London, England, by a small group of prison reform campaigners who were unhappy with the direction in which the Howard League for Penal Reform was heading, concentrating more on community puni ...

criticised the prison for overcrowding, stating that nearly half of all single cells were holding two prisoners, and inmates were spending too much time locked up in their cells. At around this time Norwich became the only prison in England and Wales to have a unit exclusively for elderly males, mainly serving life sentences.

The prison today

The wings and units house different facilities and prisoner categories: * Wing A1 - Category B & C prisoners * Wing A2 - Category B & C prisoners * Wing A3 - Category B & C prisoners * Wing A4 - Sex offenders & vulnerable prisoners * Wing A5 - Sex offenders & vulnerable prisoners * Wing A6 - Induction Wing * Wing B1 - Category B & C prisoners * Wing B2 - Category B & C prisoners * Wing B3 - Category B & C prisoners * Wing C1 - Violence Reduction landing * Wing C2 - Category B & C prisoners * Wing C3 - Category B & C prisoners * Wing D - Britannia House (Category D prisoners) * Wing K - Older prisoner Wing (Category B & C) * Wing F - Local discharge unit (Category C) * Wing G - Local discharge unit (Category C) * Wing H - Healthcare Centre * Wing L - Elderly prisoners (mainly serving

life sentence Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life imprisonment are c ...

s) * Wing M - Sex offenders & vulnerable prisoners Education provision for inmates at Norwich Prison is mainly centred on basic and key skills. Other courses offered include ESOL, Food Hygiene,

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 ...

, Health and Safety,

NVQ National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) are practical work-based awards in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland that are achieved through training and assessment. The regulatory framework supporting NVQs was withdrawn in 2015 and replaced by th ...

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 ...

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 ...

and

Craft A craft or trade is a pastime or an occupation that requires particular skills and knowledge of skilled work. In a historical sense, particularly the Middle Ages and earlier, the term is usually applied to people occupied in small scale pr ...

and pre-release work programmes. Workshops offer printing, textiles, contract packing services and gardens. Other facilities include a gym and a multi-faith chaplaincy. There is also a Prison Visitor Centre which is operated by the Ormiston Children and Families Trust. On 4 May 2016, ITV broadcast ''Her Majesty's Prison: Norwich''. The documentary records the daily life of the inmates and their families.

Notable former inmates

Reggie Kray Ronald Kray (24 October 193320 March 1995) and Reginald Kray (24 October 19331 October 2000) were English gangsters or organised crime figures and identical twin brothers from Haggerston who were prominent from the late 1950s until their arres ...

* Anthony Sawoniuk *

Ronnie Biggs Ronald Arthur Biggs (8 August 1929 – 18 December 2013) was an English criminal who helped plan and carry out the Great Train Robbery of 1963. He subsequently became notorious for his escape from prison in 1965, living as a fugitive for 36 y ...

Donald Neilson Donald Neilson (born Donald Nappey; 1 August 1936 – 18 December 2011), also known as "The Black Panther," "The Phantom," and "Handy Andy," was an English armed robber, kidnapper and murderer. Neilson carried out a series of sub-post office r ...

References

External links

Ministry of Justice pages on HMP Norwich
{{Prisons in the East of England

Buildings and structures in Norwich 1887 establishments in England