HM Prison Shepton Mallet

HMP Shepton Mallet
Location Shepton Mallet, Somerset
Status Closed
Security class Adult Male/Category C Lifer
Opened 1625
Closed 2013
Website Shepton Mallet at justice.gov.uk

HMP Shepton Mallet, sometimes known as Cornhill, is a former prison located in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, England. When it closed in 2013, it was the United Kingdom's oldest operating prison, and had been since the closure of HMP Lancaster Castle in 2011.[1] Before closure Shepton Mallet was a Category C Lifer Prison holding 189 prisoners. The prison building is grade II* listed.[2] Its closure was announced in January 2013.[3]

History prior to the Second World War

17th and 18th centuries

The prison was established as a House of Correction in 1625, to comply with an Act of King James I in 1609 requiring that every county have such a House. In the 17th century, Shepton Mallet was not the only place of imprisonment in Somerset: the County Gaol was in Ilchester, and there was another House of Correction at Ilchester and also at Taunton. In these times all prisoners, men, women and children, were held together in reportedly dreadful conditions. The gaoler was not paid, instead making an income from fees from his prisoners (for example, for providing them with liquor).

In 1773, a commissioner appointed by Parliament to inspect prisons around the country reported that sanitation at Shepton Mallet House of Correction was extremely poor. He said:

Many who went in healthy are in a few months changed to emaciated, dejected objects. Some are seen pining under diseases, expiring on the floors, in loathsome cells, of pestilential fevers, and the confluent smallpox. Victims, I will not say to cruelty, but I must say to the inattention of the Sheriffs, and Gentlemen in the commission of peace. The cause of this distress is, that many prisons are scantily supplied, and some almost totally unprovided with the necessaries of life.
— John Howard's report to Parliament, 1773

In 1790 additional land was purchased to extend the prison, and around this time men and women began to be held in separate areas. Further extensions were carried out in 1817 to 1822, at around which time Shepton Mallet held about 200 prisoners.

19th century

In 1823, a large treadwheel was built within the prison on which men who had been sentenced to hard labour would serve their punishment. 40 men would tread the wheel for many hours at a time, a punishment which was recorded as causing hernias in some convicts. The wheel was used to power a grain mill situated outside the prison wall. The wheel remained in use until 1890.

Other prisoners were engaged in breaking stones which were used for roadbuilding, oakum picking (unpicking old ropes) and other tasks.

Ilchester Gaol closed in 1843, with the inmates transferred to Shepton Mallet and Taunton. A year earlier, Inspectors appointed by the Government had reported that Shepton Mallet prison was:

in greatest want of new cells for the purpose of dividing the prisoners from each other ... In number 11 of Ward 8, no less than eight men have slept in the same room in company from January to September, 1841, although in this very room there are only six bedsteads. Boards are brought in and placed on the floor when the bedsteads are not sufficiently numerous.
— Report of Her Majesty's Inspectorate, 1842

In 1845, the prison was recorded as holding 270 prisoners.

By 1897, the population was only 61, overseen by the Governor, three Warders, six Assistant Warders and a Night Watchman. Other staff included the Chaplain and Assistant Chaplain, Surgeon, Matron and School Master.

1904 fire

At 10.15pm on Saturday 2 July 1904 a fire, believed to have been started by a prisoner about half an hour earlier, was discovered in C block.[4]

The alarm was raised by the ringing of the prison bell and the prisoners were evacuated to the prison chapel. Within ten minutes the town fire brigade, which was provided by the Anglo-Bavarian Brewery, was in attendance. They were joined at about midnight by the Wells brigade and at about 3:00am by the Frome and Glastonbury brigades.

The fire had spread quickly within C block and was fought by prisoners, warders and firemen working together; prisoners helped to man the hoses and worked the fire engine pumps in shifts. Despite the opportunity offered by the disruption, no prisoner attempted to escape.

There were no fatalities as a result of the fire, and no major injuries. Whilst contemporary photographs show that the roof of C block was substantially destroyed, the building itself, being constructed of stone and concrete, remained nearly intact. Consequently, it was not necessary to transfer any prisoners to other jails.

Closure in 1930

In 1930, the Prisoner Commissioners recommended to the Government that Shepton Mallet Prison should be closed because it was under-used, having an average population in recent years of only 51 inmates.

The prison closed in September of that year, with the prisoners and some of the staff transferring to other jails in neighbouring counties. The prison itself remained empty except for a caretaker until the outbreak of the Second World War.

Civilian executions

The total number of executions at Shepton Mallet in its early years is unknown, however seven judicial executions took place within the prison walls between 1889 and 1926:

Their remains were buried in unmarked graves within the walls of the prison, as was customary following British executions.

Use during the Second World War

The prison was reopened for British military use in October 1939. It soon housed 300 men from all three armed services, with some having to live in huts in the prison yard.

Public Records storage

At almost the same time as it took its first British military prisoners, the prison also took into protective storage many important historical documents from the Public Record Office in London, including Domesday Book,[8] the logbooks of HMS Victory, the Olive Branch Petition (1775), and dispatches from the Battle of Waterloo. In all, about 300 tons of records were transported to Shepton Mallet.[9] Some documents, but not Domesday Book, were moved out of Shepton Mallet on 5 July 1942 due to concern at the concentration of important items being held in one place, especially with German bombs falling on Bath and Bristol. During their time at Shepton Mallet, the archives were still able to be inspected.

The archives were returned to London after the end of the war, between 10 July 1945 and 1 February 1946. Prior to the return of the documents, German prisoners of war were, at one point, used to help with the loading of the lorries.

American military use

Between mid-1942 and September 1945, the prison was used by the American military as the "6833rd Guardhouse Overhead Detachment", later "The Headquarters 2912th Disciplinary Training Center — APO 508 United States Army". The prison was entirely staffed by American military personnel during this period. The first Commandant was Lt Colonel James P. Smith of the 707th Military Police Battalion.

At times during its use by the Americans, Shepton Mallet held many more men than it had ever held before. At the end of 1944, there were 768 soldiers imprisoned, guarded by 12 officers and 82 enlisted men.

American military executions

Under the provisions of the United States of America (Visiting Forces) Act 1942, a total of eighteen American servicemen were executed within the prison walls. Sixteen were hanged in the execution block and two were shot by firing squad in the prison yard. Three of the hangings were double executions, i.e. both condemned prisoners stood together on the gallows and were executed simultaneously when the trap-door opened. Of the 18 men executed, nine were convicted of murder, six of rape (which was not a capital offence in the United Kingdom), and three of both crimes. A Channel 4 film claimed that a greater number of black soldiers were executed. Although the American army was 90% white, 10 of the 18 men hanged there were black and three were Hispanic.[10]

The Americans constructed a small, two-storey building containing a gallows (of identical design to those used in British prisons) adjoining one of the prison wings.[11] The flat-roofed execution block has a single window, approximately one metre above the trap-door. There is an external wooden door on the ground floor which gives access to the area underneath the trapdoor. It was through this door that the bodies of executed prisoners were removed. The barred steel mortuary door (located below C wing) directly faces the external wooden door to the execution block. The execution block is sandwiched tightly between two much larger buildings, close to the rear of the prison. Visually, it clashes with the other architecture because it is made of red brick, whereas the rest of the prison is constructed from stone.[12][13] The precise location of the execution block within the prison is 51°11′25.87″N 2°32′34.59″W / 51.1905194°N 2.5429417°W / 51.1905194; -2.5429417 (Execution block).

The executioner at most of the hangings was Thomas William Pierrepoint, assisted mainly by his more famous nephew Albert Pierrepoint, though some other assistant executioners were used, e.g. Alex Riley and Herbert Morris. Executions by hanging took place after midnight, at around 1:00 am. Albert Pierrepoint is known to have disapproved of the Americans' practice of reading out to the condemned man, as he stood on the trap-door, the details of his offence and sentence. He said:

The part of the routine which I found it hardest to acclimatise myself to was the, to me, sickening interval between my introduction to the prisoner and his death. Under British custom I was working to the sort of timing where the drop fell between eight and twenty seconds after I had entered the condemned's cell. Under the American system, after I had pinioned the prisoner, he had to stand on the drop for perhaps six minutes while his charge sheet was read out, sentence spelt out, and he was asked if he had anything to say, and after that I was instructed to get on with the job.
— Albert Pierrepoint, Home Office Executioner

The names and dates of American military executions are as follows:[14]

Initially, the remains of American prisoners executed at Shepton Mallet were interred in unmarked graves at "Plot X" in Brookwood Cemetery. Plot X was located in a distant corner of Brookwood Cemetery, away from the other plots and adjacent to tool sheds and a compost heap. Executed prisoners interred there were not even given coffins, but were put into cotton mattress covers and buried in individual graves under numbered markers. Plot X had room for one hundred graves and was the first effort to specifically segregate executed Army prisoners from those who had been killed in combat.

However, circa 1949 all eighteen bodies were exhumed. In what appears to have been an administrative error, the remains of David Cobb were repatriated to Dothan, Alabama. The remaining 17 were reburied in Plot E at Oise-Aisne American Cemetery and Memorial in France. Plot E is a private section intended for the "dishonoured dead" which is situated across the road from the main cemetery. Visits to Plot E are not encouraged. Public access is difficult because the area is concealed, surrounded by bushes, and is closed to visitors. In any case, all the grave markers in Plot E bear only numbers (not names), which made identification of individual soldiers impossible without the key. The US government published a list identifying the occupants of each grave in 2009.

Three other American soldiers also died accidentally at Shepton Mallet: they asphyxiated and died from carbon monoxide poisoning in a locked cell in which the ventilation shaft was blocked with leaves and a naked gas-lamp had used up most of the oxygen.

British military use

In September 1945, the prison was once again taken over by the British Army and became a British Military prison for service personnel. It was used for soldiers who were going to be discharged after serving their sentence, provided that sentences was less than two years (if more than two years, the sentence was served in a civilian prison).

Shepton Mallet was notorious amongst British servicemen and known as 'the glass house'. Amongst the soldiers held there were the Kray twins who, while serving out their national service in the gaol after absconding, met Charlie Richardson.

Discipline was very strict and the punishments meted out to prisoners were reportedly extremely severe.

On 10 March 1959 a riot (officially termed a mutiny) began in the dining hall. Thirteen soldiers were subsequently tried by Court Martial, and five were sentenced to three years imprisonment; the remainder were acquitted.

Post-war use

The prison was finally returned to civilian use in 1966. It was initially used to house prisoners who, for their own protection, could not be housed with 'run-of-the-mill' prisoners, and also well-behaved first offenders.

The gallows in the execution block was removed in 1967 and the room became the prison library.

In 1973, the prison changed role and became a training prison for men serving sentences of less than four years. The aim was to provide the inmates with the education and skills necessary for them to become productive members of society after their release. There were now about 260 prisoners who worked in a range of workshops, including plastic moulding, tailoring and scrap metal recovery. Some also worked outside the prison (some unsupervised), for example in the local Park or Churchyard, on local farms or at the Babycham brewery.

In the 1980s, the prison held prisoners who had been in prison several times before and had not reformed. Around this time the population continued to be 260 living in accommodation designed for 169.

In 1991, Shepton Mallet took its first category 'C' life prisoners – those nearing the end of their sentences. The maximum number of prisoners to be held in the prison was fixed at 211.

In 1992, the then Chief Inspector of Prisons, Judge Stephen Tumim issued a report which said:

We doubt that Shepton Mallet Prison has a future in its present role and are aware that the total population could be absorbed into vacancies at other category 'C' establishments in the area. If the prison is to continue it requires a clear function or set of functions which match the physical resources.
— HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, 1992

Shepton Mallet became the first category 'C' second-stage solely-lifer prison on 1 August 2001. It had an official capacity of 165, but in June 2010 was holding 188 prisoners, with arriving prisoners having to share cells for up to a year.[18] It was divided into four wings:

An inspection report on the prison was issued following a full announced visit by inspectors from HM Chief Inspector of Prisons carried out in June 2010. The introduction to the report described the prison as:

This very positive report ... is testament to the benefits that can flow from having a small-scale niche prison with a settled population. Despite its ageing physical environment, the prison was a very safe place, with positive staff-prisoner relationships, a reasonable amount of activities, and a strong focus on addressing the serious risks posed by the population.
— HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, June 2010

The report commented in particular on the very good relations between prisoners and prison officers, and the low levels of self-harm, bullying, violence or drug use. Whilst the Inspectors said that the accommodation was "old and tired", they felt that it was adequate for the current number of prisoners. However they were concerned by proposals in increase the population by 70 prisoners.[18]

Closure

On 10 January 2013, Justice Secretary Chris Grayling announced that Shepton Mallet Prison was one of seven prisons in England to close.[3]

HMP Shepton Mallet closed on 28 March 2013. The closure ceremony was attended by officers and staff, past and present, the Bishop of Bath and Wells, veterans and serving personnel of MTC Colchester, representatives of the US Armed Forces and family and friends.[19][20][21] The last act was the hand over of the Union Flag to the last Governor. This was also marked by a fly past of a Royal Naval Lynx helicopter from RNAS Yeovilton and an hour and a half peal from the local church bells. The staff, who marched to parade just inside the main gates, accompanied by the RNAS Yeovilton Volunteer Band, were then dismissed.

Future

After closure, the prison was put up for sale by the Ministry of Justice. The original deadline to declare a preferred bidder for the site was the end of March 2014 but this was put back until mid-August. Proposals for the site included converting it into prison heritage centre with hotel, bar and restaurants as well as housing, or converting the complex into a museum, gym, a hotel and ghost and horror tours.[22] However these were rejected in October.[23]

On 24 December 2014 it was announced that Shepton Mallet Prison along with Dorchester Prison, Gloucester Prison and Kingston Prison had been sold to City and Country. There will be a community consultation on the development of all the sites, with plans including mixed-used schemes of assisted living units alongside retail and social amenity areas.[24] In July 2015 they announced plans to convert some of the cell blocks into flats, houses or hotel rooms.[25]

In December 2015, it was announced that D wing of the prison will become a temporary airsoft venue, before the block is demolished to make way for redevelopment.[26]

Former inmates

Escapes and attempted escapes

Escapes, successful and attempted, from Shepton Mallet Prison include:

It may be thought from the above list that prisoners on outside working parties spent all their time trying to escape. However, on one occasion two prisoners undertaking gardening work near the parish church went to the aid of an elderly lady who had collapsed, by breaking into her house with the help of a neighbour. They were rewarded for their efforts by an official commendation and a reduction in their sentences of seven days.

References

Footnotes

  1. ↑ http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/lancast.html
  2. ↑ "HM Prison and perimeter wall". Images of England. Retrieved 2006-10-25.
  3. 1 2 "Seven prison closures in England announced". BBC News. 10 January 2013. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  4. ↑ Source: Shepton Mallet Journal 8 July 1904, quoted in Davis, Fred. The Anglo: The History of the Anglo Bavarian Brewery, Shepton Mallet, 1864-1994. J H Haskins & Son Ltd.
  5. 1 2 3 Fielding, Steve (1994). The Hangman's Record. Volume One: 1868–1899. Beckenham: Chancery House Press. ISBN 978-0900246654.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Fielding, Steve (1995). The Hangman's Record. Volume Two: 1900–1929. Beckenham: Chancery House Press. ISBN 978-0900246777.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Eddleston, John J. (2004). The Encyclopaedia of Executions. London: John Blake Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-1844540587.
  8. ↑ Hallam, Elizabeth M. (1986). Domesday Book through Nine Centuries. London: Thames & Hudson. pp. 168–9. ISBN 0500250979.
  9. ↑ Cantwell, John D. (1991). The Public Record Office, 1838-1958. London: HMSO. pp. 428–30. ISBN 0114402248.
  10. ↑ Lashmar, Paul (2003-03-19). "C4 delays film on US army hangings". The Guardian. Guardian Newspapers. Retrieved 20 November 2008.
  11. ↑ "Shepton Mallet prison in Somerset". Archived from the original on 2007-06-22. Retrieved 2007-08-30.
  12. ↑ Pearce, Chris (2014-04-15). "Visit to HMP Shepton Mallet Prison « cprimages". Cprimages.wordpress.com. Retrieved 2014-07-22.
  13. ↑ "External view of brick-built 1940s execution room". Prison-history.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-07-22.
  14. ↑ Ramsey, W.G (1980). After The Battle. ISBN 978-0900913204.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Fielding, Steve (1995). The Hangman's Record. Volume Three: 1930–1964. Beckenham: Chancery House Press. ISBN 978-0900246814.
  16. ↑ "Army & Navy — Murder at Honingham Hall". Time Magazine. Dec 18, 1944. Retrieved 15 March 2010.
  17. ↑ Sly, Nicola (2010). A grim almanac of Somerset. Stroud: History Press. p. 89. ISBN 9780752458144.
  18. 1 2 "Report on an announced full inspection of HMP Shepton Mallet 14-18 June 2010" (PDF). HM Chief Inspector of Prisons. Retrieved 2010-10-11.
  19. ↑ "Ex-prison staff to be at closing ceremony". This is Somerset. Retrieved 29 March 2013.
  20. ↑ "Shepton Mallet prison closure marked with special service". BBC. Retrieved 29 March 2013.
  21. ↑ "Shepton Mallet 'village society' jail closes". BBC. Retrieved 29 March 2013.
  22. ↑ "BBC News - HMP Shepton Mallet prison sale bidding process extended". Bbc.co.uk. 2014-07-15. Retrieved 2014-07-22.
  23. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-29801397
  24. ↑ "The sale of former prisons in west and south England is agreed". BBC News. 24 December 2014.
  25. ↑ "Flats 'part of' historic Shepton Mallet prison". BBC. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
  26. ↑ "Shepton Mallet prison to become airsoft battleground". Shepton Mallet Journal. 21 December 2015. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  27. ↑ Full surname not given in Disney

Sources

External links

Coordinates: 51°11′26″N 2°32′36″W / 51.190611°N 2.543228°W / 51.190611; -2.543228 (HM Prison Shepton Mallet)

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