HM Prison Sudbury is a Category D men's

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, corre ...

, located in the village of Sudbury in

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The prison is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service.

History

Sudbury was originally constructed as a hospital for the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...

for the

D-Day landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

. In 1948, the old hospital site was adapted for use as a prison. The original single-storey accommodation from the hospital still houses prisoners today, with newer additional single storey buildings also used. In 2003, a new Modular Temporary Unit was constructed at the site. In December 2003, it emerged that 350 prisoners had absconded from Sudbury in five years. Management at the prison stated that this was a consequence of the prison having more inmates. In June 2005, an inspection report from

Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons His Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons is the head of HM Inspectorate of Prisons and the senior inspector of prisons, young offender institutions and immigration service detention and removal centres in England and Wales. The current chief inspe ...

praised Sudbury Prison. The report stated that Sudbury provided a safe and well-ordered environment for prisoners and staff. However the report called for certain facilities to be improved at the prison, particularly for elderly and disabled prisoners. A further inspection report in September 2007 again praised Sudbury prison, despite the fact that more than 40 prisoners had absconded from the jail since January 2007. The report however did call for better healthcare services at the prison. In August 2021, a former female prison officer was jailed for three years for forming a relationship with an inmate and helping him escape from HMP Sudbury. The inmate walked out of the prison on 1 October 2019, where the officer picked him up and drove him to a train station. The inmate was eventually rearrested on 27 March 2020 and taken to HMP Winchester, where his phone calls were monitored and revealed his relationship with the guard at HMP Sudbury.Smitten prison officer helped inmate lover escape - BBC News.com
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The prison today

Sudbury is a Category D

open prison An open prison (open jail) is any jail in which the prisoners are trusted to complete sentences with minimal supervision and perimeter security and are often not locked up in their prison cells. Prisoners may be permitted to take up employment w ...

for adult males. Accommodation at the prison comprises a mixture of single and double occupancy rooms. Full-time and part-time education, as well as evening classes, are offered to inmates at HMP Sudbury. Workshops and training courses include

bricklaying Brickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and mortar. Typically, rows of bricks called ''courses'' are laid on top of one another to build up a structure such as a brick wall. Bricks may be differentiated from blocks by siz ...

, painting & decorating, industrial

cleaning Cleaning is the process of removing unwanted substances, such as dirt, infectious agents, and other impurities, from an object or environment. Cleaning is often performed for aesthetic, hygienic, functional, environmental, or safety purposes ...

, farms and gardens,

catering Catering is the business of providing food service at a remote site or a site such as a hotel, hospital, pub, aircraft, cruise ship, park, festival, filming location or film studio. History of catering The earliest account of major services be ...

and site maintenance. A listener scheme for prisoners who may be at risk from suicide or self-harm is in operation, as well as an anti-bullying committee. There is a voluntary drug testing unit and a drug support group offering counselling and support for prisoners with drug problems

Notable former inmates

* Ben Gunn, blogger and prison reform campaigner * Darius Guppy, an Anglo-Iranian businessman, convicted of insurance fraud *

Lee Hughes Lee Hughes (born 22 May 1976) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Stourport Swifts. A strong striker with excellent finishing abilities, Hughes represented the England semi-professional team once in 1996. ...

, former

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...

striker * Harry Roberts, murdered three policemen * Stinson Hunter (activist), Arson on a school

References

External links

Ministry of Justice pages on Sudbury
{{Prisons in the East Midlands Sudbury Sudbury 1948 establishments in England Sudbury