Its been an age since I posted & a bit lame starting with a permission visit I know but here we go!
Its all gone now Im afraid, but got lucky with this one.
I noticed on fb back in Feb that a guy I knew was working in here & a message was immediately sent without even knowing what he actually did.
A reply of "I'll see what I can do" was taken with a pinch of salt, then out of the blue a month ago a message came in "hey I can get u in this weekend IF you are still interested". Do bears shit in the woods?
My man in question is a superbly nice chap who was thrilled to personally spend 3 hours or so showing myself & one other around. A text I received on the way saying "great security is expecting you" is not one us explorers receive very often & set the tone for the visit.
Turns out hes pretty much running the site for Keir & only had a few demo guys in that day so had nothing better to do.
My only regret is that we were a few months too late as some of the main blocks had already gone & everything was pretty stripped but was still great to see
Before I go into the history the rebuild is as interesting, they are building a 1500 capacity super prison (it was about 650 originally) & are expecting around 1500 workers on site for the rebuild.
They have allocated around 3million.... for the site compound alone!
I struggled to find much "real" history from the place but did stumble upon a book "behind the fence" written by a 20yr serving guard who worked here & another prison (who I have been talking to on fb incidentally) which is brilliant. ( I have never felt physically sick reading a book before lol)
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Behind-th...qpBD:rk:f:0
I have my own story from here which I will share in brief.
I did some steelwork in here some 20yr back & remember being let in to the visitors area we were working in through a hole the contractor had exposed in the wall to the block.
At the end of the shift they boarded the hole & we had to exit through the doors. It then came to light that we had not signed in through the correct procedures..it took us 3 hrs before we finally convinced them we were actually working there & got let out!
Anyway this bit nicked from wiki Im afraid
Opened as a Borstal in 1963, Wellingborough continued to hold Young Offenders until 1990, when it was re-rolled as Category C Training Prison for male adults
In December 2003, an inspection report stated that Wellingborough was not meeting the criteria for its role as a training prison. Inspectors found that only half the prisoners were working or in education
However, inspectors also highlighted Wellingborough's good overall safety record, as 80% of inmates reported that they felt safe and 75% reported that staff treated them with respect.
In July 2004, A missionary from Wellingborough Prison was imprisoned for trying to smuggle heroin and cannabis into the jail. The missionary had been a Prison Service-authorised Sikh leader
On 17 July 2012, UK Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke announced that HMP Wellingborough would be closed by the end of the year, claiming it would save the tax payer £10m a year.[3] The prison formally closed on 21 December 2012
On with the pics, of which there is quite a lot.
This was one of the segregation cells
Steps on the outside led to the glazed roof for full vision into the cell
Interesting cell graffiti
On to the chapel
Next we went to see the greenhouses, allegedly "the" scene from the film scum was filmed in one of these here
Finally we were shown some original 1960s plans from when the prison was built
Thanks for looking
Its all gone now Im afraid, but got lucky with this one.
I noticed on fb back in Feb that a guy I knew was working in here & a message was immediately sent without even knowing what he actually did.
A reply of "I'll see what I can do" was taken with a pinch of salt, then out of the blue a month ago a message came in "hey I can get u in this weekend IF you are still interested". Do bears shit in the woods?
My man in question is a superbly nice chap who was thrilled to personally spend 3 hours or so showing myself & one other around. A text I received on the way saying "great security is expecting you" is not one us explorers receive very often & set the tone for the visit.
Turns out hes pretty much running the site for Keir & only had a few demo guys in that day so had nothing better to do.
My only regret is that we were a few months too late as some of the main blocks had already gone & everything was pretty stripped but was still great to see
Before I go into the history the rebuild is as interesting, they are building a 1500 capacity super prison (it was about 650 originally) & are expecting around 1500 workers on site for the rebuild.
They have allocated around 3million.... for the site compound alone!
I struggled to find much "real" history from the place but did stumble upon a book "behind the fence" written by a 20yr serving guard who worked here & another prison (who I have been talking to on fb incidentally) which is brilliant. ( I have never felt physically sick reading a book before lol)
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Behind-th...qpBD:rk:f:0
I have my own story from here which I will share in brief.
I did some steelwork in here some 20yr back & remember being let in to the visitors area we were working in through a hole the contractor had exposed in the wall to the block.
At the end of the shift they boarded the hole & we had to exit through the doors. It then came to light that we had not signed in through the correct procedures..it took us 3 hrs before we finally convinced them we were actually working there & got let out!
Anyway this bit nicked from wiki Im afraid
Opened as a Borstal in 1963, Wellingborough continued to hold Young Offenders until 1990, when it was re-rolled as Category C Training Prison for male adults
In December 2003, an inspection report stated that Wellingborough was not meeting the criteria for its role as a training prison. Inspectors found that only half the prisoners were working or in education
However, inspectors also highlighted Wellingborough's good overall safety record, as 80% of inmates reported that they felt safe and 75% reported that staff treated them with respect.
In July 2004, A missionary from Wellingborough Prison was imprisoned for trying to smuggle heroin and cannabis into the jail. The missionary had been a Prison Service-authorised Sikh leader
On 17 July 2012, UK Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke announced that HMP Wellingborough would be closed by the end of the year, claiming it would save the tax payer £10m a year.[3] The prison formally closed on 21 December 2012
On with the pics, of which there is quite a lot.
This was one of the segregation cells
Steps on the outside led to the glazed roof for full vision into the cell
Interesting cell graffiti
On to the chapel
Next we went to see the greenhouses, allegedly "the" scene from the film scum was filmed in one of these here
Finally we were shown some original 1960s plans from when the prison was built
Thanks for looking
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