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HM Prison Long Lartin

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Coordinates: 52°06′30″N 1°51′13″W / 52.1084°N 1.8535°W / 52.1084; -1.8535
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HMP Long Lartin
Long Lartin Prison in 2011
Map
LocationSouth Littleton, Worcestershire
Security classAdult Male/Category A
Population500 (as of January 2022)
Opened1971
Managed byHM Prison Services
GovernorBabafemi Dada
WebsiteLong Lartin at justice.gov.uk

HM Prison Long Lartin is a Category A men's prison, located in the village of South Littleton (near Evesham) in the Wychavon district in Worcestershire, England. It is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service.

History

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Long Lartin was opened as a Category C training prison in 1971, with additional security features and systems being added in 1972 to enable it to operate as a dispersal prison.

In April 1990, inmates at Long Lartin Prison attempted a mass breakout and, after officers foiled their escape bid, about 30 prisoners barricaded themselves on a landing.[1] As a consequence of this and other security breaches, such as when inmate Gareth Connett was suspected of making a handgun in the metal workshop in August 1992, prison officers were drafted in from all around the country for a full stand down search in which many homemade weapons were found.

The establishment was further upgraded between 1995–97 to a maximum security prison.[citation needed]

In August 1998, the then Governor of Long Lartin, Jim Mullen claimed that mentally ill inmates at the prison faced unacceptable delays before being transferred to appropriate secure hospital accommodation. Mullen stated that up to 20 of his 379 inmates should have been transferred, after a report by the Chief Inspector of Prisons called for action to speed up the movement of prisoners in need of specialist care.[2]

A supermax segregation unit (the biggest in Europe) comprising a new residential wing called Perrie Wing was opened at Long Lartin in June 1999, designed to hold the most violent and dangerous offenders and substantially increasing capacity.

A November 2003 inspection report from Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons stated that the prison was generally safe and offered good staff-prisoner relations and reoffending work. However the report also cited serious deficiencies in areas such as race relations, the overloaded and understaffed drug treatment team, and too many prisoners being locked up instead of in work.[3]

The prison today

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As of 2017, Long Lartin is a 622 capacity Category A prisoner jail.[4]

There are eight main residential units. Two other residential units were demolished and the construction of a replacement purpose built two wing 180 house block has been completed. There have been two murders at the prison since 2014.[citation needed]

On the evening of 11 October 2017, during a disturbance on E wing when 81 prisoners attacked staff with pool balls, staff had to retreat. Ten Tornado teams, prison officers equipped and trained to deal with riots, resolved the disorder. At the time, two-thirds of inmates were serving life sentences, and in common with other prisons Long Lartin had had staffing cuts of about 20%.[5][4]

In January 2018, inspectors considered the prison stable and well controlled. In June 2018 there was a report that the prison's governor needed hospital treatment and spent weeks off work after a prisoner had attacked her. On 30 September 2018 a disturbance broke out and six prison officers were injured, of whom three had head injuries, two had suspected broken jaws and one had a fractured arm, according to the Prison Officers' Association. The disorder ended at around 17:30, seven prisoners were put into isolation and will be moved to other prisons.[6][7]

In September 2019 a disturbance occurred involving ten prisoners who temporarily took over a wing. One prison officer needed hospital treatment and specialist riot-trained prison officers were sent in.[8]

Notable inmates

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Martin Evans of The Daily Telegraph described Long Lartin as one of the UK's "top security jails", and that the prisoners included "some of Britain's most notorious".[9]

  • Carl Dobson, grime MC who is serving a minimum of 30 years for murder.[citation needed]
  • Jake Fahri, is serving a life sentence, serving a minimum term of 14 years for the murder of 16-year-old school boy Jimmy Mizen on 10 May 2008
  • Ben Geen, a former nurse who since 2006 has been serving 30 years (17 concurrent life sentences) for 15 charges of grievous bodily harm and 2 of murder. He still claims to be innocent of all these crimes.
  • Christopher Halliwell, who was convicted of murdering two women and is believed to have murdered more.[10]
  • Nathan Matthews, sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 33 years for the Murder of Becky Watts.[11]
  • Jordan McSweeney, sexually assaulted and murdered Zara Aleena in June 2022.[12]
  • Vincent Tabak, sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 20 years in 2011 for the murder of Joanna Yeates.
  • Steve Wright, serial killer who is serving a life sentence for the murder of five women in 2006.[13]

Former inmates

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References

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  1. ^ "INMATES TRY MASS ESCAPE FROM PRISON IN ENGLAND". 3 April 1990.
  2. ^ "Mentally ill prisoners face 'unacceptable delays'". BBC News. 17 August 1998. Retrieved 12 April 2013.
  3. ^ "Prison has race problems". BBC News. 18 November 2003. Retrieved 12 April 2013.
  4. ^ a b Harrison Jones, Kevin Rawlinson (12 October 2017). "Riot officers quell disorder at Long Lartin high-security prison". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  5. ^ "Long Lartin: Prison staff 'attacked with pool balls'". BBC News. 12 October 2017. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  6. ^ "Long Lartin prison: Six officers hurt in disorder". BBC News. 30 September 2018. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  7. ^ Busby, Mattha; Spring, Marianna (30 September 2018). "Long Lartin prison: six officers injured in disturbance". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  8. ^ "Long Lartin prison: Disturbance ends after inmates take over wing". BBC News. 25 September 2019. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  9. ^ a b Martin, Evans (20 June 2016). "Child killer beaten to death in prison". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  10. ^ Lewis, Tim (25 June 2017). "'How I caught a serial killer – and lost my career in the police'". The Observer. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  11. ^ Jessica Haworth (1 January 2017). "Becky Watts' stepbrother killer Nathan Matthews 'burned with boiling butter in prison'". Daily Mirror.
  12. ^ "Zara Aleena's killer Jordan McSweeney leaves sentence appeal hearing". BBC News. 20 October 2023. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
  13. ^ "Serial killer who strangled and choked prostitutes to die in high security Worcestershire prison". Birmingham Live. 21 November 2021. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
  14. ^ a b Dominic Casciani (5 October 2012). "Abu Hamza to be extradited to US". BBC News. Retrieved 12 April 2013.
  15. ^ "Subhan Anwar: Two charged with killing child murderer". BBC News. 16 February 2013. Retrieved 12 April 2013.
  16. ^ "Murder most foul, but did he do it?" Archived 3 August 2010 at the Wayback Machine, The Times, 18 March 2001; courtesy link to innocent.org, scroll to the end to see the editorial.
  17. ^ "Animal activist dies on hunger strike". BBC News. 5 November 2001. Retrieved 12 April 2013.
  18. ^ Erwin James. "Punishment is always the easy part". The Guardian.
  19. ^ "Marina drugs row killer set to appeal". Liverpool Daily Post. 23 September 2002. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
  20. ^ Steffan Rhys (24 January 2014). "Ian Watkins moved to same prison as child killer Ian Huntley". Wales Online.
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52°06′30″N 1°51′13″W / 52.1084°N 1.8535°W / 52.1084; -1.8535

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