Wakefield Prison

HMP Wakefield

HM Prison Wakefield dominates the skyline of Wakefield.
Location	Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England
Security class	Adult Male/Category A
Population	751 (as of November 2007)
Opened	1594
Managed by	HM Prison Services
Governor	Susan Howard

Her Majesty's Prison Wakefield is a Category A men's prison, located in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. The prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service, and is the largest high-security prison in the United Kingdom (and western Europe). The prison has been nicknamed the "Monster Mansion" due to the large number of high-profile, high-risk sex offenders and murderers held there.

Wakefield Prison was originally built as a house of correction in 1594. Most of the current prison buildings date from Victorian times. The current prison was designated a ‘dispersal' prison in 1966 (the longest of the remaining original group).

The English Dialect Dictionary noted references to Wakefield were often short for referring to the long-standing prison (e.g. "being sent to Wakefield" meant being sent to prison).

The exercise yard at Wakefield has a mulberry tree, around which female inmates used to exercise. This has been linked to the nursery rhyme "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush" by the erstwhile prison governor, RS Duncan in his book 'Here we go round the mulberry bush': The House of Correction 1595 / HM Prison Wakefield 1995 (published by author 1994). This origin of the song is also propounded on the prison's website. There is no corroborative evidence to support this theory.

During the First World War, Wakefield Prison was used as a Home Office work camp. The ordinary criminal prisoners were removed, and the new influx were sentenced to two or more years' imprisonment for refusing to obey military orders. After the closure of Dyce prison camp in October 1916, Wakefield Prison was also used to intern conscientious objectors. In September 1918 a group of conscientious objectors took advantage of a slackening in the prison regime that occurred towards the end of the war, by rebelling and refusing to undertake any work. They issued a list of demands for better treatment, known as the Wakefield Manifesto.