HMP Peterhead was a prison in

Peterhead Peterhead (; , ) is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is the council area's largest settlement, with a population of 19,060 at the 2022 Census for Scotland, 2022 Census. It is the largest fishing port in the United Kingdom for total landi ...

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire (; ) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the Shires of Scotland, historic county of Aberdeenshire (historic), Aberdeenshire, which had substantial ...

, Scotland, operating from 1888 to 2013. Since June 2016, the former grounds operate as the Peterhead Prison Museum.

History

Peterhead Convict Prison was built around 1888. It was designed to hold 208 prisoners and to be Scotland's only

convict A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison". Convicts are often also known as "prisoners" or "inmates" or by the slang term "con", while a common label for former convicts ...

prison,Scraton, P., Sim, J. & Skidmore, P. (1991) ''Prisons Under Protest'', Buckingham: Open University Press i.e. for prisoners sentenced to '

hard labour Penal labour is a term for various kinds of forced labour that prisoners are required to perform, typically manual labour. The work may be light or hard, depending on the context. Forms of sentence involving penal labour have included inv ...

'. Occupancy averaged at around 350 however, until peaking at 455 in 1911. Additional buildings were completed in 1909, 1960 and 1962, bringing capacity up to 362. According to the

Scottish Prison Service The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) () is an executive agency of the Scottish Government tasked with managing prisons and Young Offender Institutions. The Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, currently Teresa Medhurst, is responsible ...

, the prison could, in 2012, accommodate up to 142 prisoners. It closed in 2013, to be replaced by the new HMP Grampian, the first prison in Scotland to jointly house youths, men and women. The first inmates transferred on to site on 2 March 2014 having been temporarily housed at other sites and connected to family with virtual visits by videolink. Until the opening of Peterhead Convict Prison, Scots convicts were transported to England to serve their sentences. The first convicts were received in August 1888. Peterhead supplied the labour force to work in Stirlinghill Quarry and in the Admiralty Yard attached to the prison. These convicts supported the work of a civilian labour force employed by the Admiralty to construct the Harbour of Refuge breakwater. The Admiralty project was unique in Scotland as it was served by the only state-owned passenger-carrying railway in its day.

Riot

On 28 September 1987, a riot in the prison's D wing resulted in prisoners taking over the building and taking a prison officer, 56-year-old Jackie Stuart, hostage. The rioters were serving life in prison for violent crimes. It was thought that they had nothing to lose and would not hesitate to make good on their threats to kill their

hostage A hostage is a person seized by an abductor in order to compel another party, one which places a high value on the liberty, well-being and safety of the person seized—such as a relative, employer, law enforcement, or government—to act, o ...

, whom they had taken up to the rafters. When negotiations broke down, the then-Home Secretary,

Douglas Hurd Douglas Richard Hurd, Baron Hurd of Westwell, (born 8 March 1930) is a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician who served in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major from 1979 to 1995. A career diplomat and ...

, dispatched the SAS to bring the riot to an end on 3 October. The operation was successful. The hostage was released unharmed and order in the prison was restored.

Facilities

Peterhead Prison had a history of poor conditions for prisoners, being referred to as "Scotland's gulag, a prison of no hope." A 2005 inspection reported that electricity had only just been made available in all the cells and

slopping out Slopping out is the manual emptying of human waste when prison cells are unlocked in the morning. Inmates without a flush toilet in the cell have to use other means (formerly a chamber pot, then a bucket, now often a chemical toilet) while locked ...

continued at the prison. HMP Peterhead was a specialist centre for sex offenders. Talks on replacing the prison with a new one began in 2006. They were revived in November 2006. Demolition of part of the prison began on 13 February 2012, with the opening of the new HMP Grampian planned for winter 2013/14. The prison closed on 6 December 2013. The new facility can hold about 500 male and female prisoners – both adults and young offenders – from the Northern Community Justice Authority catchment area.

Filming location

In 2016, Peterhead Prison was used as a filming location for the 2018 British zombie action film '' Redcon-1''. In January 2022 the prison again became a filming location for

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

series ''

Screw A screw is an externally helical threaded fastener capable of being tightened or released by a twisting force (torque) to the screw head, head. The most common uses of screws are to hold objects together and there are many forms for a variety ...

'', an

STV Studios STV Studios (previously STV Productions, SMG Productions, and originally known as Scottish Television Enterprises) is the television production arm of the Scottish company STV Group plc. Its headquarters are in Glasgow, Scotland with an office ...

produced prison drama starring '' Derry Girls'' actress

Jamie-Lee O'Donnell Jamie-Lee O'Donnell (born 4 March 1987) is an actress from Derry, Northern Ireland. She played Michelle Mallon in the Channel 4 sitcom '' Derry Girls''. Early life O’Donnell was born on 4 March 1987 in Derry, Northern Ireland. She attended S ...

and ''

The Bill ''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, broadcast on ITV (TV network), ITV from 16 October 1984 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, "Woodentop (The Bill), Woodentop" (part of the ''Storyb ...

'' and ''

Killing Eve ''Killing Eve'' is a British spy thriller television series produced in the United Kingdom by Sid Gentle Films for BBC America and BBC Three (streaming service), BBC Three. The series follows Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh), a British intelligence age ...

'' actress

Nina Sosanya Oluwakemi Nina Sosanya (born 6 June 1969) is an English stage, television, film, and radio actress, and narrator. She is most notable for her roles in ''Teachers'', '' W1A'', and '' Last Tango in Halifax''. Early life and education Oluwakemi N ...

. It was confirmed the show has been picked up for a second series.

Museum

The building now serves as the Peterhead Prison Museum which provides an Audio Guided Tour of cells, exercise areas, kitchens, laundry, hospital and ancillary rooms. There is a small first-floor cafeteria.

References

External links

Peterhead Prison MuseumPeterhead Prison 'as bad as ever' – bbc.co.ukH.M. PETERHEAD PRISON CONDITIONS UNDER FIRE
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hmp Peterhead Prisons in Peterhead

1888 establishments in Scotland Museums in Aberdeenshire Prison museums in the United Kingdom Government buildings completed in 1888 2013 disestablishments in Scotland Museums established in 2016 2016 establishments in Scotland