HMP ''Weare'' was an Adult Male/Category C

prison ship A prison ship, often more accurately described as a prison hulk, is a current or former seagoing vessel that has been modified to become a place of substantive detention for convicts, prisoners of war or civilian internees. While many nat ...

berthed in Portland Harbour in

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

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 ...

. It was the latest in a lengthy history of British prison ships, which included HMS ''Maidstone'', used as a prison during

Operation Demetrius Operation Demetrius was a British Army operation in Northern Ireland on 9–10 August 1971, during the Troubles. It involved the mass arrest and internment (imprisonment without trial) of people suspected of being involved with the Irish Republi ...

in the 1970s, HMS ''Argenta'', in use as a prison in the 1920s, and a long

list of British prison hulks Prison hulks were decommissioned ships that authorities used as floating prisons in the 18th and 19th centuries. They were extensively used in England. The term "prison hulk" is not synonymous with the related term convict ship. A hulk is a shi ...

dating from the late 18th-century to the mid 19th-century.

History

The ship was built in 1979 by Götaverken Finnboda of Stockholm, Sweden, as a floating accommodation barge for the offshore oil and gas industry. It was one of several such vessels owned by the Swedish company Consafe Offshore AB, under the name ''Safe Esperia''. The vessel was acquired by the British

Bibby Line Bibby Line is a UK company concerned with shipping and marine operations. Its parent company, Bibby Line Group Limited, can be traced back to John Bibby who founded the company in 1807. The company along with the group is based in Liverpool. ...

in 1982, renamed ''Bibby Resolution'', and chartered to the Ministry of Defence to provide troop accommodation in the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouze ...

. The ''Bibby Resolution'', and her sister ship ''Bibby Venture'', were bought by the

New York City Department of Correction The New York City Department of Correction (NYCDOC) is the branch of the municipal government of New York City responsible for the custody, control, and care of New York City's imprisoned population, housing the majority of them on Rikers Islan ...

in 1988 to serve as prison ships. ''Bibby Resolution'', as Maritime Facility II (MTF2), was docked in the

East River The East River is a saltwater tidal estuary in New York City. The waterway, which is actually not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates the borough of Quee ...

at Montgomery Street in the Lower East Side and held up to 380 inmates. It was finally closed in 1992. In 1994 both ships were sold. The UK established HMP ''Weare'' in 1997 as a temporary measure to ease prison overcrowding, and after a formal planning application was agreed the Bibby Resolution, now HMP ''Weare'', was brought from New York. ''Weare'' was docked at the disused

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

dockyard at the

Isle of Portland An isle is an island, land surrounded by water. The term is very common in British English British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Lexico, Oxford Dictionaries, "English language, English as used in Great Britain, as distinct fr ...

. The ship went on to hold 400 prisoners (as of June 2004) who were mainly at the end of their prison sentence. The ship had a five-storied cell block. Upon the prison's opening, the ship became an object of political controversy, but later became something of a tourist attraction. The ship created two hundred and fifty jobs, and boosted the economy by an estimated £9 million a year. At the time it was also Portland's third prison, alongside HM Prison The Verne and HM Prison Portland. After two years of use, HM ''Prison Weare'' was given a positive inspection report by the then chief inspector of prisons, Sir David Ramsbotham, who said it delivered "the best possible treatment and conditions for prisoners under difficult circumstances". However, there was debate upon the ship's long-term future.

Closure and subsequent history

On 9 March 2005, it was announced that the ''Weare'' was to close, mainly due to costly running, being unnecessary and the cost of millions of pounds in order to refurbish it. The prison briefly closed in 2005 and was reopened a few months later for a short period. Not long after, the prison closed permanently and was sold. In 2006, the ship was sold off after conditions on board were criticised by the Chief Inspector for Prisoners Anne Owers. The chief complained that the inmates had no exercise and no access to fresh air, also stating the ship was "unsuitable, expensive and in the wrong place". Among the options about what to do with the ship were moving it to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

to be used by the Metropolitan police to hold prisoners or sinking it in Portland Harbour or around the

as a man-made

reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic processes— deposition of sand, wave erosion planing down rock o ...

and as a

diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), a ...

location. In 2006, there was speculation that the government was thinking about buying the ship back, as it had been sold to a Nigerian shipping company to provide accommodation to oil workers. After the closure of HMP ''Weare'' in 2006 the vessel was sold to the Sea Trucks Group, and refurbished for use as an oil industry accommodation vessel, where it will hold 500 workers. Renamed ''Jascon 27'', the ship left Portland under tow in 2010, bound for Onne, Nigeria.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Weare, HMP Isle of Portland Prisons in Dorset Defunct prisons in New York City 1997 establishments in England 2005 disestablishments in England 1979 ships Prison ships Defunct prisons in England Government buildings in Manhattan