HMP Canterbury is a former

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 ...

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

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 was operated by

Her 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 Wal ...

. The former prison site was bought by Canterbury Christ Church University in April 2014.

History

The prison originated as a county gaol in 1808 and served as a Home Office archive during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. After a time as a Naval Detention Centre during the Second World War, the prison reopened in 1946 as a local prison to serve the courts of Kent. In 2002 it became a category C training prison and in 2006 a foreign nationals prison. In 2003 Canterbury Prison was highlighted by the

Prison Reform Trust The Prison Reform Trust (PRT) was founded in 1981 in London, England, by a small group of prison reform campaigners who were unhappy with the direction in which the Howard League for Penal Reform was heading, concentrating more on community punis ...

as being one of the most overcrowded prisons in the country, claiming that Canterbury was overpopulated 57%. Two years later the

Howard League for Penal Reform The Howard League for Penal Reform is a registered charity in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest penal reform organisation in the world, named after John Howard. It was founded as the Howard Association in 1866 and changed its name in 1921, ...

criticised the prison for its high rates of suicides amongst inmates. In 2007 Canterbury Prison was converted to hold only foreign national prisoners in the UK. This was to allow a centralisation of specialised immigration and language services for foreign prisoners, as well as to allow dedicated immigration officials to work on the deportation of as many inmates as possible (on completion of their sentence). In 2008 the

Princess Royal Princess Royal is a style customarily (but not automatically) awarded by a British monarch to their eldest daughter. Although purely honorary, it is the highest honour that may be given to a female member of the royal family. There have been se ...

visited Canterbury as part of celebrations marking the 200th anniversary of the prison. On 10 January 2013, the Ministry of Justice announced that Canterbury was one of six prisons that would close. The prison formally closed on 31 March 2013 and was put up for sale in March 2014. In April it was announced that Canterbury Christ Church University had bought the former prison site, and is consulting on using the site for student accommodation for its North Holmes Campus.

Notable former inmates

* Michael Stone *

Silvino Francisco Silvino Francisco (born 3 May 1946) is a South African former professional snooker player, most notable for winning the 1985 British Open. Snooker career Francisco comes from a snooker-playing family. His brother Manuel and nephew Peter both ...

* Ronnie and Reggie Kray *

Salman Butt Salman Butt (, born 7 October 1984) is a former Pakistani cricketer and captain who played for Pakistan national cricket team between 2003 and 2010, before getting banned for five years for his involvement in 2010 spot-fixing scandal. He had ...

* Mohammad Asif

References

External links

History of Canterbury Prison from theprison.org.ukHMP Canterbury - HM Inspectorate of Prisons Reports
{{Prisons in South East England

1808 establishments in England

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 ...

2013 disestablishments in England Canterbury Christ Church University