How many people will it hold and when will it open?
£253 million HMP Five Wells will hold 1,680 inmates, making it England’s biggest prison.
The biggest Prison in the UK is due to open in the Northamptonshire area. HMP Five Wells, also commonly referred to as Wellingborough Prison or HMP Wellingborough, is due to be built on same site as the original.
Taking a look into the £250m mega Prison and the plans to have no bars and riverside views in talks.
The inmates called “residents” rather than “prisoners”.
The plan is that the new inmates to be placed in the new so-called mega prison will be called “residents” rather than “prisoners” as they prepare for release into society.
There are plans that the privately-run prison will also be focused on as a rehabilitation and will feature 16 classrooms, 24 workshops and prison cells without bars in the windows.
There is also a plan to have Prisoners see out their time to make use of four football pitches for exercise, a gardening area and a sloping auditorium.
The building works itself is due to be finished by October this year, with the first prisoner arriving at the privately-run prison in January 2022.
The Government aims to bring a new look for the new prison. With airy rooms, brightly coloured walls and windows with no bars on them.
The category C jail in Northamptonshire will focus on rehabilitation. Bringing a more “modern, efficient prison estate that is fit for the future”.
How do the residents of Northamptonshire feel about the Prison?
The overall decision on how the locals are taking the build is decisive. With some locals agreeing that more needs to be done about keeping criminals off of the streets. And that the new prison will help to bring justice, and rehabilitation for the county.
And although the new Prison could set to bring over 300 new jobs, others in the community believe that the £253,000,000 spent could have been better used to combat the root causes of crime, like poverty and inequality.
One man wrote on Facebook: ‘Sorry but I thought the idea was to punish them?? What next, officers bringing them breakfast in bed?’
What the future holds for HMP Five Wells?
The aim is for all of the residents, as they will be known, to have a qualification by the time they walk out of the gates in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire.
Run by security company G4S, the £253 million jail reflects changes to the wider prison estate over the past five years.
Then-Prisons Minister Rory Stewart said: “Providing offenders with decent conditions and regimes is absolutely key to turning their lives around and ultimately keeping the public safe.”
A spokesperson for G4S said: ‘As the UK’s first purpose-built resettlement prison, HMP Five Wells will foster a purposeful environment that aims to prepare its residents for their transition back into society. This means providing them with skills and qualifications so they have the best chance to secure employment and turn away from crime.”
The majority of prisoners at Five Wells will have transferred in from other prisons because they are nearing the end of their sentence.
“HMP Five Wells will be operated by G4S on behalf of the Ministry of Justice, which already runs several highly-rated prisons in the UK, that are at the forefront of innovative programmes focused on training and care.”
