HM Prison Lewes

HMP Lewes

Original 1853 front facade at HMP Lewes
Location	Lewes, East Sussex, England
Security class	Young Offenders/Adult Male/Local Cat B
Capacity	742
Population	692(as of June 2021)
Opened	1853
Managed by	HM Prison Services
Governor	Mark Creaven
Website	Lewes at justice.gov.uk

His Majesty's Prison Lewes is a local category B prison located in Lewes in East Sussex, England. The term local means that the prison holds people on remand to the local courts, as well as sentenced prisoners. The prison is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service.

History

Lewes is a Victorian prison, built in 1853. The present day prison was constructed to replace the original Lewes Gaol which despite being enlarged in 1818 to hold 70 cells along with a treadmill had become too small. Built in 1791 Lewes Gaol was situated at the corner of North Street and Lancaster Street in Lewes. Lewes Gaol was sold to the Admiralty in 1853 to help house PoWs from the Crimean War and was finally demolished in 1963. ^[1]

An early prisoner at Lewes was George Witton, a Lieutenant in the Bushveldt Carbineers in the Boer War in South Africa. He was imprisoned after being implicated in the shooting murder of Boer prisoners. While imprisoned in the UK from 1902, George Ramsdale Witton wrote the book "Scapegoats of the Empire". After some time Winston Churchill, himself a former prisoner of the Boers during the war, put a number of parliamentary questions to the Colonial Secretary about Witton's ongoing incarceration. The campaign for Witton's release was successful and Witton was pardoned by King Edward VII and was freed on 10 August 1904. Witton then returned to Australia where he was welcomed as a hero by then Prime Minister of Australia, Alfred Deakin. The 1980 film "Breaker Morant" depicts the story of the court-martial and conviction of Morant, Hancock, and Witton.

During the 1916 Easter Rising in Ireland, several prominent figures involved in it were held at Lewes Prison, including Éamon de Valera (1882–1975); Thomas Ashe (1885–1917); Frank Lawless (1871–1922); and Harry Boland (1887–1922).

A £1 million healthcare suite opened in the prison in June 2004, with facilities to treat physically ill prisoners and a 19-bed unit for assessing mental health. ^[2]

In February 2008, an inspection report from Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons stated that one wing in Lewes Prison needed to be refurbished urgently after inspectors found that inmates had to eat their meals on toilets. The report also stated that anti-bullying and suicide prevention procedures at the prison were weak. However, inspectors found that vulnerable prisoners felt safe and that the prison was decent overall. ^[3] Two months later a new accommodation block for 174 inmates was opened at the prison, with a commitment from prison management to refurbish older wings at Lewes within the following 12 months. ^[4]

On 10 April 1852, Sarah Ann French was the last woman to be hanged at the prison, for the crime of murdering her husband William French. The murder is known in East Sussex as the Onion Pie Murder. ^[5]

Incidents

In October 2003 an inquiry was launched after 25 to 30 prisoners were involved in a riot that led to property damage and the injury of an officer. ^[6]

On 17 September 2014 a prison officer was hospitalised with facial injuries following an attack involving three inmates who had been told they were going to be searched. This attack was one of 264 separate assaults on staff recorded since 2000. ^[7]

On 29 October 2016 a riot lasting 6 hours caused damage to cells and offices, with prison officers forced to retreat to safety. Mike Rolfe of the Prison Officers Association blamed severe staff shortage and bad management. Rolfe said, "There were only four staff on that wing and all four retreated to safety after threats of violence and the prisoners went on the rampage." Two years previously a serving officer said Lewes Prison "resembled a warzone" due to severe staff shortage and drug smuggling. ^{[8] [9]} This was one of four riots within under two months, with riots also occurring at Birmingham, Bedford ^[10] and Swaleside Prisons.

On 28 March 2024, three inmates and three staff were taken to hospital after a suspected poisoning, with a further 10 people being treated at the scene. They quickly fell ill after eating a curry from the prison's kitchen after a Maundy service. Ambulances and a CBRN incident support unit were sent to the prison at around midday and Eastbourne District General Hospital declared a major incident. The kitchen, staffed by both civilians and inmates, was locked down for some time before later being reopened after it was 'deemed safe'. The Prison Service said the initial assessment was that it was a 'food-poisoning incident'. ^[11]

The prison today

HMP Lewes is a category B local prison in the town of Lewes, East Sussex. Opened in 1853, the prison has the capacity to hold 742 male inmates.

A wing provides drug and alcohol support for 134 prisoners. B Wing is the Care & Separation Unit or CSU holding 16. C wing has 150 places for sentenced and unconvicted prisoners. F wing is a vulnerable prisoner unit and has 173 places for both unconvicted and convicted sex offenders and others requiring protection. G wing is the First Nights Centre and has units for 23. K wing is the Integrated Drug Treatment System (IDTS) unit for 22 prisoners. L wing and M wing have 80 and 94 places for sentenced prisoners respectively. The Health Care Centre has space for 9 prisoners.

Accommodation at the prison consists mainly of shared cells, with some single accommodation. A new house block; Sussex which accommodates L and M wings respectively was opened at the prison in April 2012.

The prison also has a First Night Centre for newly imprisoned / transferred inmates, and a Listener Scheme for those at risk of suicide and self-harm. The prison offers a range of full and part-time education including information technology, literacy, numeracy, and life/social skills, and has weekly library access for all. Additional employment is offered in the prison workshops.

An inspection of Lewes Prison in 2016 found it held 640 prisoners and was overcrowded. HM Chief Inspector of Prisons reported over a quarter of prisoners at Lewes said they felt depressed or suicidal. Not all staff had anti-ligature knives and some, "could not assure us that they would act appropriately in the event of a serious self-harm incident." ^[12]

Lewes Prison has held offenders ranging from 570 through to 590 through the courts of Sussex. There was an increase of recall to prison of offenders from police stations across Sussex because of the COVID-19 pandemic. (?)

Notable inmates

• Thomas Ashe
• Harry Boland
• Éamon de Valera
• George Edalji
• Mick Jagger
• Reginald Kray
• Frank Lawless
• Khalid Masood the terrorist shot dead after leading the Westminster attack of 2017, spent time here after convictions of assault, GBH and possession of an offensive weapon ^[13]
• Tom O'Carroll, pro-paedophile activist and convicted sex offender ^[14]
• William Thomas Pike, imprisoned in Lewes House of Correction for 6 months in 1878 for embezzlement.
• George Witton, war criminal

References

1. "Walls of Old Naval Prison, Lewes - 1043758 | Historic England".
2. "UK | England | Southern Counties | New £1m health suite for prison". BBC News. 10 June 2004. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
3. "UK | England | Sussex | Jail 'needs urgent refurbishment'". BBC News. 5 February 2008. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
4. "UK | England | Sussex | Jail gets more space in new block". BBC News. 12 April 2008. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
5. "NOSTALGIA: Where many infamous criminals met their end". www.eastbourneherald.co.uk.
6. "Inquiry after prison riot". BBC News . 8 October 2003. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
7. Leo, Ben (19 September 2014). "Prison officer set upon by three inmates in Lewes Prison is hospitalised". The Argus . Retrieved 28 March 2024.
8. Forster, Katie (29 October 2016). "Specialist officers called to control six-hour riot at notorious prison once described as 'worse than Syria'". The Independent . Retrieved 28 March 2024.
9. "Lewes Prison 'rampage' forces staff 'retreat'". BBC News . 29 October 2016. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
10. Grierson, Jamie (17 December 2016). "HMP Birmingham prison rioters will face 'full force of law', says Truss". The Guardian . ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 28 March 2024.
11. Sandford, Daniel; Symonds, Tom; Gupta, Tanya (28 March 2024). "Lewes Prison: At least 15 ill after suspected poisoning at jail". BBC News . Retrieved 28 March 2024.
12. Investigation launched after two prisoners die within 48 hours at HMP Lewes The Independent
13. Hardy, Jack (24 March 2017). "All the aliases used by the Westminster attacker". The Independent. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
14. Capital Gay, 23 July 1982

External links

Media related to HMP Lewes at Wikimedia Commons

• Ministry of Justice pages on Lewes

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