A while ago I was working from home (which normally means sitting drinking tea and every now and again moving my mouse so Lync doesn't go inactive) when someone posted on the 28DL FB page that HMP Kingston was currently having an open day. Portsmouth is a few hours drive from me but as I noticed when @WhoDaresWins and I paid HMP Cornhill (Shepton Mallet) a visit, Prisons are rather hard to break in to. So I decided to pop down before the open day closed.
Most of Portsmouth had the same idea.
When I got to Portsmouth and parked up the queue for the Prison was around the corner and I was told it would be a 2 hour wait, but after driving 2 hours I decided to wait and so I did and I finally got in.
Kingston Prison was originally built in 1877 as a Victorian radial design prison though it has also been used as a boys' borstal and also as a police station during WW2.
In 1965 capital punishment for murder was abolished in Britain and, as a result, Kingston began exclusively to hold inmates serving life sentences. Kingston became the only prison in England and Wales to have a unit exclusively for elderly male prisoners serving life sentences. In April 2003 a report from Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons stated that the elderly prisoner unit at Kingston provided unacceptable conditions for its inmates. The report detailed that movement in the unit was severely restricted, there was insufficient privacy and the rooms had too little natural light, poor ventilation and in some cases no power points.
Soon afterwards Kingston was redesignated as a more general category B and C prison, the elderly prisoner unit moving to HMP Norwich. From April 2012 Kingston became mainly a Category C prison, holding a high percentage of inmates serving life sentences.
On 10 January 2013 it was announced that Kingston Prison would close as part of a wider prisons closure program established by the Ministry of Justice. The prison formally closed on 28 March 2013 and put up for sale.
Most of Portsmouth had the same idea.
When I got to Portsmouth and parked up the queue for the Prison was around the corner and I was told it would be a 2 hour wait, but after driving 2 hours I decided to wait and so I did and I finally got in.
History
Kingston Prison was originally built in 1877 as a Victorian radial design prison though it has also been used as a boys' borstal and also as a police station during WW2.
In 1965 capital punishment for murder was abolished in Britain and, as a result, Kingston began exclusively to hold inmates serving life sentences. Kingston became the only prison in England and Wales to have a unit exclusively for elderly male prisoners serving life sentences. In April 2003 a report from Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons stated that the elderly prisoner unit at Kingston provided unacceptable conditions for its inmates. The report detailed that movement in the unit was severely restricted, there was insufficient privacy and the rooms had too little natural light, poor ventilation and in some cases no power points.
Soon afterwards Kingston was redesignated as a more general category B and C prison, the elderly prisoner unit moving to HMP Norwich. From April 2012 Kingston became mainly a Category C prison, holding a high percentage of inmates serving life sentences.
On 10 January 2013 it was announced that Kingston Prison would close as part of a wider prisons closure program established by the Ministry of Justice. The prison formally closed on 28 March 2013 and put up for sale.
