Location East Sutton, Kent Governor Robin Eldridge | Managed by HM Prison Services Opened 1946 | |
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Population 100 (as of January 2007) Website East Sutton Park at justice.gov.uk Address Sutton Valence, Maidstone ME17 3DF, UK Security class Prisoner security categories in the United Kingdom Similar Blantyre House Prison, Chegworth Valley Ltd, HMP/YOU Rochester, PJ's Farm Shop Ltd, Riverford Organic Vegetables | ||
HM Prison East Sutton Park is a women's open prison and Young Offenders Institution, located in the village of East Sutton (near Maidstone), in Kent, England. The prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service.
Contents
History
East Sutton Park Prison is based in and around an Elizabethan brick house, East Sutton Park, dating from 1570 and overlooking the Weald of Kent. The building was requisitioned at the start of World War II, first opened as a borstal in 1946, then was re-registered to take juvenile and adult females some years later.
In 2001 East Sutton Park was praised by the Director General of the Prison Service for its caring regime and humane standards of treatment for prisoners.
However in a report by Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons in 2003, East Sutton Park was criticised for not focusing enough on resettlement of prisoners and also for having a "disrespectful culture", including failing to issue proper toiletries and only offering plain glass shower cubicles which did not afford privacy to the inmates. According to the report, inmates were also subject to such unnecessary rules as "not being able to walk across the main hall, having to use plastic cutlery and fixed bed times."
The management of East Sutton Park Prison amalgamated with that of Blantyre House Prison in 2007.
The prison today
Accommodation at the prison is divided into 21 dormitories of varying sizes. Work at the prison for inmates includes farming, gardening, and catering. East Sutton Park also offers training courses and physical education. The prison plans to place 50 prisoners for employment in the community and has currently placed 25.