| Summary : HMP Highpoint is located on the site of the former RAF Stradishall which opened on 3rd February 1938 as a bomber base and continued in this role until July 1945. After World War II the base was home to transport squadrons until September 1949 when it became a training airfield. In 1955 it became a fighter base and from 1961 it was home of No.1 Air Navigation School. The Prison Department acquired the site in 1973 and during May 1977 the first inmates arrived. The prison consisted of three components. The north part was used as a Detention Centre and was a female prison until 2005 known as Edmunds Hill (although it has now reverted to a male prison). The main part of the site was used as a Category C prison, though it was originally to be used as a Category B prison. The former officers' mess to the west of the site served as a small Category D unit. A closed unit for men was completed in September 1982 and received its first inmates in May 1983 while the #-plan unit holding 248 prisoners opened in January 1985. The #-plan living unit is contemproary with similar units at Wayland, Acklington, Littlehey, The Mount and in a modified version at Brinsford. The two new DOW II (Directorate Of Works II) wings, each providing 96 places, were completed in 1991-2. The prison contains a mixture of purpose-built prison blocks and former RAF buildings. The current Works Department, which was formerly the Category D unit was the officers' mess. Most of the buildings including the three cell blocks on the north site were RAF buildings, the cell blocks being the former billets. In the main site a number of the blocks and the officers' club outside the gate all date from the RAF occupation of the site. |
More information : HMP Highpoint is located on the site of the former RAF Stradishall which opened on 3rd February 1938 as a bomber base and continued in this role until July 1945. After World War II the base was home to transport squadrons until September 1949 when it became a training airfield. In 1955 it became a fighter base and from 1961 it was home of No.1 Air Navigation School. The Prison Department acquired the site in 1973 and during May 1977 the first inmates arrived. The prison consisted of three components. The north part was used as a Detention Centre and is now a female prison. The main part of the site was used as a Category C prison, though it was originally to be used as a Category B prison. The former officers' mess to the west of the site served as a small Category D unit. A closed unit for men was completed in September 1982 and received its first inmates in May 1983 while the #-plan unit holding 248 prisoners opened in January 1985. The #-plan living unit is contemproary with similar units at Wayland, Acklington, Littlehey, The Mount and in a modified version at Brinsford. The two new DOW II (Directorate Of Works II) wings, each providing 96 places, were completed in 1991-2. The prison contains a mixture of purpose-built prison blocks and former RAF buildings. The current Works Department, which was formerly the Category D unit was the officers' mess. Most of the buildings including the three cell blocks on the north site were RAF buildings, the cell blocks being the former billets. In the main site a number of the blocks and the officers' club outside the gate all date from the RAF occupation of the site. (1)
Stradishall, Suffolk, TL 724 512. The WWII airfield consisted of three concrete runways, five Type C and three Type T2. There was permanent accommodation for 2210 male and 534 female personnel. (2)
From 1938 to 1970 the site of the prison was a Royal Air Force base. It was then used as a transit camp for Ugandan Asian refugees. It opened as a prison in 1975.
During the 1980s there were a number of alterations and in November 1997 part of the prison (Highpoint North) was converted to hold women prisoners. The women's prison was then called Edmunds Hill. In 2005 it returned to a men¿s prison when HMP Peterborough opened, and the female population was redirected there.
The accommodation comprised ten living units (Units 1-10) all purpose-built with integral sanitation (except 6 & 7), in cell electricity and in cell television in all areas.
Operational Capacity was 944 as of 31st August 2009.
It held adult male prisoners in category C, serving up to and including life sentences. Type 2 health care. (3)
Edmunds Hill prison was merged with Highpoint in 2010-2011. HMP Edmunds Hill is a Male Category C. Training Prison with CNA (Certified Normal Accommodation) for 379 male prisoners, and Operational Capacity of 379. (4)
|