Five Wells Prison

Five Wells Prison
Location	Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, England
Status	Operational
Security class	Adult Male/Category C
Capacity	1,687
Population	1,650 (as of 12 January 2024)
Opened	4 March 2022
Former name	HMP Five Wells
Managed by	G4S
Director	Will Styles
Street address	301 Doddington Road
City	Wellingborough
Postal code	NN8 2NX
Website	https://www.hmpfivewells.co.uk/

Five Wells Prison, also referred to as Wellingborough Prison, due to it being built on same site as the latter, is a Category C Adult Male prison, located in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, England. With a maximum capacity of 1,687, it is the largest prison in the East Midlands, and one of the largest in the UK. The prison is operated by G4S.^[1]

History

It was announced in June 2018 that a new Category C prison would be built in Wellingborough on the site of the now demolished HM Prison Wellingborough, which was closed in 2012.

In 2020, it was announced the prison would be called "Five Wells", as voted for by Wellingborough residents.

The 9 buildings of the prison took 45 weeks to build and were completed in late 2020,^[2] costing £253,000,000.^[3] The first inmates arrived at the prison in early 2022.^[4]

In January 2023, videos were released online of inmates smoking Cannabis and taking shots of alcoholic drinks including different varieties of vodka and rum held in inconspicuous bottles, most notably a Robinsons juice bottle. This furtherly perpetuated the controversy and criticism surrounding the prison, as well as of G4S.^[5]

In April 2024 reports revealed that during the first government inspection of a prison it was found that illegal drugs are widely available and inmates are not suitably supported by staff.^[1] Survey showed that just over half of inmates said it was "easy" to get hold of illegal drugs, against an average of 32% in other similar category prisons.^[1] In addition 1,256 incidents of inmate self-harm reported in 12 months.^[1]

Criticism

There were various forms of protest about the construction of the prison, including graffiti around Wellingborough town, and most notably a protest in April 2021 outside the prison in which people concreted their arms together, preventing construction vehicles and deliveries entering the prison. This resulted in five arrests due to protesters allegedly becoming hostile to staff and police.^[6]^[7] The protest was targeted towards the prison's constructor, Kier Group. Multiple protests similar to this occurred throughout the prison's construction.