Maidstone gaol

HMP Maidstone

Location	Maidstone, Kent
Security class	Adult Male/Category C/Sex offender unit
Population	600 (as of May, 2009)
Opened	1819
Managed by	HM Prison Services
Governor	Dave Atkinson
Website	Maidstone at justice.gov.uk

HM Prison Maidstone is a Category C men's prison, located in Maidstone, Kent, England. The prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service.

Maidstone Prison is one of the oldest penal institutions in the United Kingdom, having been in operation for over 200 years.

Originally serving as a county jail, Maidstone was converted to a prison during the 1740s. During his visits to the prison, reformer John Howard reported poor living conditions at the prison including overcrowding and poor ventilation. However, conditions would remain unchanged until a reconstruction of the prison took place under the supervision of Daniel Asher Alexander, who had worked on the construction of Dartmoor Prison, lasting from 1811 until its completion in 1819 at a cost of £200,000. Also involved in the design of Maidstone Prison was Kent architect John Whichcord Snr, who was Surveyor to the County of Kent from the 1820s. Mr Whichcord is probably best known for designing the Kent County Lunatic Asylum in the 1830s, also in Maidstone, and similarities between the two buildings are apparent.

Constructed using Kentish Ragstone from a local quarry, the original design of the prison was intended to house 552 prisoners, including 62 female inmates. The first 141 prisoners arrived in March 1819.

Over the next decade, additions to the prison were made including a courthouse in 1826 as well as individual cells, dayrooms, courtyards and offices attributed to suggestions made by Howard. Other reforms later included a strictly enforced segregation of prisoners by offence and the general improvement of living conditions such as improving the water supply, sanitation and ventilation systems, many of these renovations were made with prison labour over the course of the century.

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