Location Stradishall, Suffolk Managed by HM Prison Services Opened 2003 (1977) | Population 379 (as of April 2009) Governor Nigel Smith | |
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Website Highpoint North at justice.gov.uk Security class Prisoner security categories in the United Kingdom | ||
HM Prison Highpoint North (formerly called Highpoint Prison and Edmunds Hill Prison) is a Category C men's prison, located in the village of Stradishall (near Haverhill) in Suffolk, England. The prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service.
Contents
History
The site of Highpoint North Prison opened in 1938 as an RAF base. On its closure in 1970, the RAF base was briefly converted into a transit camp for Ugandan refugees.
The prison opened in 1977 as Highpoint Prison. In 1997, the North part of Highpoint became a women's prison. On 3 October 2003, two years after the July 2001 separation of the North and South prisons, the North prison became HMP Edmunds Hill. The prison was then converted into a Category C Male establishment in January 2005.
Moors Murderer Myra Hindley had been imprisoned there for almost five years before she died in West Suffolk Hospital on 15 November 2002, having being hospitalised as a result of a heart attack at Highpoint.
In October 2006, 10 inmates rioted at the prison, damaging toilets and shower facilities. The riot started after the inmates were caught with home brew. Another home brew was involved in riots that occurred less than a year later, when inmates crafted a liquor from Marmite and fruit juice.
In May 2007 a report from the Independent Monitoring Board criticised the prison for the neglect of foreign nationals and the treatment of mentally ill offenders at the prison. The report also raised concern that the prison had lacked a Muslim chaplain for two years.
The prison was renamed Highpoint North prison in 2011.
The prison today
The Category C men's prison has an education department, and work opportunities for inmates in Data Input, Contract Cleaning, Gardens/Horticulture, and Catering. Other facilities include a gym and prison chaplaincy. The prison complex consists of six buildings. Three of these are residential treatment units which combine to house 160 men. The remaining three house 67 men each.
There is also a Prison Visitor Centre which is operated by the Ormiston Children and Families Trust.