Location Denbury, Devon Managed by HM Prison Services Opened July 1974 | Population 731 (as of April 2008) Governor Terry Witton Phone +44 1803 814600 | |
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Website Channings Wood at justice.gov.uk Address H M P Channings Wood, Greenhill Ln, Denbury, Newton Abbot TQ12 6DW, UK Security class Prisoner security categories in the United Kingdom Similar HM Prison Exeter, HM Prison Dartmoor, HM Prison Leyhill, HM Prison Prescoed, HM Prison Eastwood Park | ||
HM Prison Channings Wood is a Category C men's prison, located in the village of Denbury (near Newton Abbot) in Devon, England. The prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service.
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History
The United States Army built a camp and shooting range at Denbury in the run up to the invasion of Europe in 1944. The site was taken over by the Royal Corps of Signals junior training Regiment. The construction of Channings Wood Prison began on the former Ministry of Defence site in 1973, by a combination of contract and prison labour. The prison officially opened in July 1974, with further accommodation added in 1991.
From the 1990s Channings Wood gained a reputation for pioneering therapeutic work to reform sex offenders and drug addicts. This was confirmed in a report by Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons in April 2003, however the report noted that overcrowding at Channings Wood was putting this good work at risk. Further accommodation was constructed at the prison in 2003.
Channings Wood was praised again in a report in 2005 which highlighted the prisons education programme, accommodation and levels of safety. However a year later ten inmates staged a roof-top protest at the prison for 28 hours. The prisoners were "protesting about their food being cooked by prisoners on the sex offender registry." The protest ended peacefully.
A new 64 bed unit was opened at Channings Wood in 2007. The new wing houses the specialist Therapeutic Community which tackles drug misuse issues amongst prisoners.
The prison today
Channings Wood Prison houses offenders serving a wide range of sentence lengths, and predominantly receives new arrivals from local prisons across the South West Area. Two of the residential living blocks at the prison make up the Vulnerable Prisoners Unit which specialises in delivering Sex Offender Treatment Programmes.
The prison provides educational courses to prisoners, include Barbering, Business Studies, Catering, Industrial Cleaning, Creative Media Studies, Customer Services, Driving Theory, Dry-Lining, Electrical Installation, ESOL, Food Hygiene, Fork Lift Driving, Horticulture, Information Technology, Painting and Decorating, Physical Education and Yoga. It also offers employment opportunities.
The prison offers a gym and league sports. The prison chaplaincy offers a chapel and multi-faith room to inmates and staff at the prison.