Winchester Prison
HM Prison Winchester
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| Location | Winchester, Hampshire |
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| Security class | Adult Male/Category B |
| Capacity | 706 (as of April 2013) |
| Population | 685 (as of February 2014) |
| Opened | 19th century |
| Managed by | HM Prison Service |
| Governor | Stephanie Roberts-Bibbly |
| Website | Winchester at justice.gov.uk |
HM Prison Winchester is a Category B men's prison, located in Winchester, Hampshire, England. The prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service.
There has probably been a prison in Winchester, mainly known as Winchester gaol, since the thirteenth century.
Winchester Prison was built to a Victorian radial design, with five 'spokes' radiating from a central hub. Four of these are used for prisoner accommodation and one for administration.
Between 1900 and 1963, 16 executions took place at the prison. The last was that of Dennis Whitty, convicted of capital murder at Cornwall Assizes, and hanged on 17 December 1963.
In 1995 serial killer Rosemary West, wife of Fred West, was held in Winchester on remand for the duration of her trial in Winchester Crown Court. Each day she was driven from her specially built unit within the male segregation block half a mile down the road to the court.
In December 2001, a convicted murderer escaped from Winchester Prison by scaling the wall. The prisoner went on the run after using a home-made handsaw to saw through the bars of his ground floor cell window. He then used a rope and grappling hook to scale the 30-feet wall of the prison. The prisoner was recaptured days later.
In August 2003, a Prison Reform Trust report stated that overcrowding at Winchester Prison was an ongoing problem. 54.7% of prisoners were sharing cells which were designed for one person. There had also been 3 suicides at the jail in the previous year.
In April 2005, an inspection report from Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons stated that Winchester Prison was overcrowded and prisoners did not have enough work to do. The report also said that vulnerable inmates were not well protected and relations between staff and prisoners were not good. However, the report praised prisoner resettlement and improvements in healthcare at the jail.
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