HM Prison Deerbolt

Deerbolt prison opened in 1973, on the site of a former army camp. In 1999 four inmates escaped from Deerbolt while with an outside working party. A year later a report from His Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons stated that Deerbolt was dangerously overcrowded, with too many inmates and too few resources. There was a major disturbance at the prison in February 2005 involving six inmates who caused tens of thousands of pounds' worth of damage to the prison chapel. There was another large disturbance at the prison the following June. Deerbolt Prison was praised by inspectors in 2005 for improving activity and resettlement services but was criticised for inmates spending too much time in…

Deerbolt is a Category C Training Prison and caters for approximately 500 prisoners with no age limit, generally serving sentences up to four years in length from the north-east of England and Humberside area. The education department at the prison is run by Novus, a subsidiary of The Manchester College, and offers both full- and part-time classes in a variety of subjects. Courses include music, art, drama, creative writing, geography, history, maths and information technology. Workshop jobs are available to prisoners who have first completed a qualification in basic literacy or numeracy, completed a manual handling course and have done a first aid qualification. Courses include catering,…