HM Prison Whitemoor is a
Category A men's prison near
March, Cambridgeshire
March is a Fenland market town and civil parish in the Isle of Ely area of Cambridgeshire, England. It was the county town of the Isle of Ely which was a separate administrative county from 1889 to 1965. The administrative centre of Fenland ...
, England, operated by
His Majesty's Prison Service
His Majesty's Prison Service (HMPS) is a part of HM Prison and Probation Service (formerly the National Offender Management Service), which is the part of His Majesty's Government charged with managing most of the prisons within England and Wale ...
.
History
Whitemoor Prison was built on the site of an old railway
marshalling yard
A classification yard (American and Canadian English (Canadian National Railway use)), marshalling yard (British, Hong Kong, Indian, Australian, and Canadian English (Canadian Pacific Railway use)) or shunting yard (Central Europe) is a railway ya ...
and was opened in 1991 by
Norma Major
Dame Norma Christina Elizabeth, Lady Major, (, formerly Johnson; born 12 February 1942) is an English philanthropist who is the wife of former British prime minister Sir John Major.
Early life
Norma Christina Elizabeth Wagstaff is the daught ...
. In September 1994 while under the governorship of
Brodie Clark, six prisoners including London gangster Andy Russell,
Paul Magee
Paul "Dingus" Magee (born 30 January 1948) is a former volunteer in the Belfast Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) who escaped during his 1981 trial for killing a member of the Special Air Service (SAS) in 1980. After serving ...
and other
IRA
Ira or IRA may refer to:
*Ira (name), a Hebrew, Sanskrit, Russian or Finnish language personal name
*Ira (surname), a rare Estonian and some other language family name
*Iran, UNDP code IRA
Law
*Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, US, on status of ...
members, escaped from the prison's Special Secure Unit after smuggling a gun into the prison. All were recaptured within minutes.
In April 2005, it was alleged that a
wind turbine
A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each year. ...
situated near Whitemoor Prison was being switched off in the early mornings because the flickering shadows it created annoyed inmates. The turbine had been halted because of possible security problems if prisoners became upset over the flickering shadows.
In August 2005, the prison was locked down for two days following an
explosion
An explosion is a rapid expansion in volume associated with an extreme outward release of energy, usually with the generation of high temperatures and release of high-pressure gases. Supersonic explosions created by high explosives are known ...
in a wing. A full search was carried out after the firework-like blast, however it caused no damage to the prison.
In June 2006, 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 insp ...
criticised staff at Whitemoor Prison for ignoring prisoners, and not responding to their queries and requests for help promptly enough. The report also criticised the prison's healthcare provision and pharmacy, as well stating that
black
Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...
and
Asian
Asian may refer to:
* Items from or related to the continent of Asia:
** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia
** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia
** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
prisoners felt subtle discrimination against them. However, the report did praise Whitemoor's specialist units – such as the dangerous and severe personality disorders wing – which were said to be performing well.
A further inspection report stated, in October 2008, that staff at Whitemoor Prison felt fear that
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
inmates were attempting to radicalise others held at the jail. According to inspectors, officers tended to treat Muslim prisoners as extremists and potential security risks, even though only eight of them had been convicted of
terrorist
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
offences. Due to the concerns raised by this inspection, further visits by researchers from the
Cambridge Institute of Criminology
The Institute of Criminology is the criminological research institute within the Faculty of Law at the University of Cambridge. The institute is one of the oldest criminological research institutes in Europe, and has exerted a strong influence ...
, commissioned by the Ministry of Justice, were arranged between 2009 and 2010 to interview staff and inmates.
In November 2011, the Cambridge Institute of Criminology published their researchers' findings.
[ A number of prisoners had told researchers that they had converted to Islam for protection or because they were bullied into it: reasons given for conversion included "seeking care and protection", "gang membership" and "coercion" as well as "rebellion" as Islam was seen as the "underdog". Non-believers avoided confrontation with any Muslim in case it led to retribution from the wider group, and would avoid cooking pork in communal kitchens or undressing in the showers in case it caused offence. A number of non-Muslims and prison officers claimed that converts did so to join an "organised gang" and a "protection racket" which "glorified terrorist behaviour and exploited the fear related to it". Non-Muslims would be visited by inmates with Islamic literature, who would tell them to "read this" and promise they would be safe from physical assault if they changed faith. In its conclusion, the report noted: "The new population mix, including younger, more black and minority ethnic and mixed race, and high numbers of Muslim prisoners, was disrupting established hierarchies in the prison. Social relations among prisoners had become complex and less visible. Too much power flowed among some groups of prisoners, with some real risks of serious violence. There were high levels of fear in the prison. In particular, there were tensions and fears relating to 'extremism' and 'radicalisation'."]
A report by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons on Whitemoor, following an inspection in January 2014, stated that the prison housed 454 adult men, of which approximately 40% were Muslim. The report identified "some Muslim prisoners convicted of terrorist offences who were an adverse influence on others".[''Bullying fears at Cambridgeshire high security prison raised'' BBC News 22 May 2014, accessed 22 May 2014](_blank)
/ref>
2020 Terror attack
At approximately 9.10am, on 9 January, two prisoners wearing fake suicide belts approached and attacked a prison officer. The prison officer received injuries to his head and neck and the attackers used improvised bladed weapons during the assault. Three prison officers and a nurse also suffered injuries as they rushed to the aid of their stabbed colleague. One of the attackers was understood to be Brusthom Ziamani, 24, who was found guilty of preparing an act of terrorism in 2015. Ziamani was assisted by another prisoner, a Muslim convert who was serving time for a violent offence. The Met Police said it was "deemed appropriate" its counter-terrorism command unit was sent to HMP Whitemoor "due to certain circumstances relating to this incident".
The prison today
Whitemoor houses around 500 of the most dangerous prisoners in the UK. The prison has a Dangerous Severe Personality Disorder (DSPD) unit and a Close Supervision Centre
Close Supervision Centres were established by UK Prison Service in 1998, as a means to segregate the most violent or disruptive prisoners. As of 2021, there were 52 inmates held in the restrictive regime which involves solitary confinement. The ...
(CSC). The centre is a prison inside the prison. Whitemoor does not accept any prisoners who are serving less than 4 years.
The regime includes vocational training courses in the construction industry and furniture craft, and production workshops involve recycling work and a laundry. The prison offers full-time, half-time and part-time education courses including basic skills, GCSE
The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...
s, Level 3 Access to Higher Education, and Open University
The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...
courses.
The Healthcare Centre includes a nine bed in-patients' facility. The centre employs a full-time doctor and provides twenty-four-hour nursing services. Out of hours medical cover is provided by an on-call service. Other facilities include a gymnasium and prison shop.
References
External links
*
Ministry of Justice pages on Whitemoor
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitemoor (HM Prison)
Whitemoor Whitemoor may refer to:
* Whitemoor, Cornwall, England, village
* Whitemoor, Nottinghamshire, area of the City of Nottingham, England
* Whitemoor Haye, area in the floodplain of the River Tame, Staffordshire, England
* Whitemoor (HM Prison), priso ...
Whitemoor Whitemoor may refer to:
* Whitemoor, Cornwall, England, village
* Whitemoor, Nottinghamshire, area of the City of Nottingham, England
* Whitemoor Haye, area in the floodplain of the River Tame, Staffordshire, England
* Whitemoor (HM Prison), priso ...
1991 establishments in England
Whitemoor Whitemoor may refer to:
* Whitemoor, Cornwall, England, village
* Whitemoor, Nottinghamshire, area of the City of Nottingham, England
* Whitemoor Haye, area in the floodplain of the River Tame, Staffordshire, England
* Whitemoor (HM Prison), priso ...
Dispersal prisons
March, Cambridgeshire