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| Location | Maidstone, Kent |
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| Security class | Adult Male/Category C |
| Population | 600(as of May 2009) |
| Opened | I 1819 |
| Managed by | HM Prison Services |
| Governor | Judith Feline |
| Website | http://www.justice.gov.uk/contacts/prison-finder/maidstone |
HM Prison Maidstone is a Category C men's prison, located in Maidstone, Kent, England and operated by His Majesty's Prison Service.
Maidstone Prison is one of the oldest penal institutions in the United Kingdom, having been in operation for over 200 years.
Originally serving as a county jail, Maidstone was converted to a prison during the 1740s. During his visits, reformer John Howard reported poor living conditions including overcrowding and poor ventilation. However, conditions would remain unchanged until a reconstruction of the prison lasting from 1811 until its completion in 1819 at a cost of £200,000, under the supervision of Daniel Asher Alexander, who had worked on the construction of Dartmoor Prison, . Also involved in the design of Maidstone Prison was Kent architect John Whichcord Snr, who was Surveyor to the County of Kent from the 1820s. Mr Whichcord is probably best known for designing the Kent County Lunatic Asylum in the 1830s, also in Maidstone, and similarities between the two buildings are apparent.
Constructed using Kentish Ragstone from a local quarry, the original design of the prison was intended to house 552 prisoners, including 62 female inmates. The first 141 prisoners arrived in March 1819.
Over the next decade, additions to the prison were made including a courthouse in 1826 as well as individual cells, dayrooms, courtyards and offices attributed to suggestions made by Howard. Other reforms later included a strictly enforced segregation of prisoners by offence and the general improvement of living conditions such as improving the water supply, sanitation and ventilation system; many of these renovations were made with prison labour over the course of the century.
By the late 20th century, the only remaining signs of the original prison are the large and small roundhouses, the Weald Wing, the Administrative Block, the Training Complex, the Visits Building and the perimeter wall.
In August 2007, Weald Wing was closed when Legionella bacteria was discovered in the water supply. Approximately 80 prisoners were dispersed to other prisons. [1] At the end of January 2009, it was announced that the prison would become a sex offenders' unit. [2]
Beginning in 1831, the prison became the place of execution for those condemned to death in the county of Kent. Before 1868, executions were done in public outside the prison's main gate. After the passing of the Capital Punishment Amendment Act 1868, subsequent executions took place inside the prison, the last was in 1930. [3]
Maidstone accommodates foreign national prisoners convicted of a range of offences; about two-thirds of whom are deported at the end of their sentence. The prison is classed as a "training prison" and includes a print shop and brick works. A good deal of work is carried out on the gardens, they frequently win awards, and a new environmental garden area is being developed.
The exterior of Maidstone Prison was shown in the title sequence (and some episodes) of the 1970s BBC comedy series Porridge and the 1990s BBC comedy series Birds of a Feather .
Execution by firing squad, in the past sometimes called fusillading, is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war. Some reasons for its use are that firearms are usually readily available and a gunshot to a vital organ, such as the brain or heart, most often will kill relatively quickly.
Maidstone is the largest town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town, linking it with Rochester and the Thames Estuary. Historically, the river carried much of the town's trade as the centre of the agricultural county of Kent, which is known as the Garden of England. There is evidence of settlement in the area dating back before the Stone Age. The town, part of the borough of Maidstone, had an approximate population of 100,000 in 2019. Since World War II, the town's economy has shifted from heavy industry towards light industry and services.
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William John Christopher Vassall was a British civil servant who spied for the Soviet Union, allegedly under pressure of blackmail, from 1954 until his arrest in 1962. Although operating only at a junior level, he was able to provide details of naval technology which were crucial to the modernising of the Soviet Navy. He was sentenced to eighteen years' imprisonment, and was released in 1972, after having served ten. The Vassall scandal greatly embarrassed the Macmillan government, but was soon eclipsed by the more dramatic Profumo affair.
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John Bull is the name of a succession of different periodicals published in the United Kingdom during the period 1820–1964. In its original form, a Sunday newspaper published from 1820 to 1892, John Bull was a champion of traditionalist conservatism. From 1906 to 1920, under Member of Parliament Horatio Bottomley, John Bull became a platform for his trenchant populist views. A 1946 relaunch by Odhams Press transformed John Bull magazine into something similar in style to the American magazine The Saturday Evening Post.
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Oakwood Hospital in Barming Heath near Maidstone, England was a psychiatric hospital founded in 1833 as the Kent County Lunatic Asylum. Following transfer of services to Maidstone Hospital, Oakwood closed in 1994 and was then developed as a residential estate known as St Andrew's Park.
John Whichcord Sr. (1790–1860) was a British architect who worked in Maidstone, Kent and designed many public and institutional buildings in the town.
Capital punishment in Afghanistan is legal and could be carried out secretly or publicly. The convict could be hanged or shot to death. Stoning, amputation, and flogging were also sometimes used as a method for punishment, especially during the late 1990s. Public executions have existed throughout Afghanistan's history. They have continued with the Taliban returning to power in August 2021. Some executions were recently condemned by the United Nations. The capital offenses in Afghanistan generally include heinous crimes such as mass murder and are governed by Sharia, along with civil laws.
Tunbridge Wells Hospital is a large district general hospital in Pembury near Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England, run by the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust. The hospital is located on Tonbridge Road, around 0.5 kilometres (0.31 mi) to the north-west of Pembury, close to the A21 trunk road. It is surrounded by woodland on three sides.
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Helen Olivia Bicknell Whately is a British politician serving as Minister of State for Social Care since October 2022, and previously from 2020 to 2021. She also served as Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury from 2021 to 2022. A member of the Conservative Party, she has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Faversham and Mid Kent since 2015.
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51°16′45″N0°31′26″E / 51.27917°N 0.52389°E
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