HM Prison Standford Hill (Sheppey Cluster) is a Category D 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 close to the village of

Eastchurch Eastchurch is a village and civil parish on the Isle of Sheppey, in the English county of Kent, two miles east of Minster, Swale, Minster. The village website claims the area has "a history steeped in stories of piracy and smugglers". Aviation ...

on the

Isle of Sheppey The Isle of Sheppey is an island off the northern coast of Kent, England, neighbouring the Thames Estuary, centred from central London. It has an area of . The island forms part of the districts of England, local government district of Borough ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

. Standford Hill forms part of the Sheppey prisons cluster, which also includes HMP Elmley and HMP Swaleside. 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

Standford Hill was opened on the site of an ex

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

station, and was first used as a prison in 1950. The complex has been redeveloped since then, and the current buildings on the site date from 1986. In December 2004, an inspection report from

Her 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 Standford Hill was not effective as a resettlement prison, and did not offer inmates worthwhile skills. The report also criticised the activities offered to prisoners. However inspectors did find "'significant' progress had been made in safety and respect" at the prison. Another inspection took place in December 2011 which found that outcomes were reasonable in most areas, yet there were still some significant areas of concern. The range of activities available was now considered to be good, but resettlement work was fragmented. In January 2013 three inmates escaped from the prison. A further two prisoners absconded in June 2014. Another prisoner escaped in August 2014.

The prison today

Standford Hill is a Category D

open prison An open prison or open jail is any jail in which the prisoners are trusted to complete sentences with minimal supervision and perimeter security and are often not locked up in their prison cells. Prisoners may be permitted to take up employmen ...

for adult males serving any sentence, with a maximum of 5 years to their release, and a maximum of 2 years to their parole eligibility date. The prison offers employment for inmates through its workshop, works, and

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 ...

departments, and also offers full and part-time education classes.

Notable former inmates

Jonathan Aitken Jonathan William Patrick Aitken (born 30 August 1942) is a British author, Church of England priest and former Conservative Party politician. Beginning his career in journalism, he was elected to Parliament in 1974 (serving until 1997), and wa ...

Jim Devine James Devine (born 21 May 1953) is a former Labour Party politician in Scotland. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Livingston from 2005 until 2010 and chairman of the Scottish Labour Party between 1994 and 1995. On 16 June 2009, fol ...

Baron Taylor of Warwick Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knight, ...

Stephen Jackley Stephen Jackley is a convicted British robber and author. He served time in American and British prisons from 2008 to 2015. He has Asperger syndrome, and his book, ''Just Sky'', explores the impact of this condition on his life. Jackley has been ...

Kenneth Noye Kenneth James Noye (born 24 May 1947) is an English criminal and convicted murderer. He was acquitted in 1985 of the murder of a police officer in the grounds of his home, but was convicted in 1986 of conspiracy to handle stolen goods from the ...

References

External links

Ministry of Justice pages on Standford Hill
{{Prisons in South East England Standford Hill Standford Hill Standford Hill Stanford Hill Standford Hill