HM Prison Leicester is a Category B men's Local prison, located on Welford Road in the centre of Leicester, Leicestershire, England. The term 'local' means that the prison holds people on remand to the local courts, as well as sentenced prisoners. Leicester Prison is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service, and is situated immediately north of Nelson Mandela Park (formerly Welford Road Recreation Ground).
According to Colin Crosby, a Blue Badge guide based in Leicester, tourists invariably ask if the prison is 'Leicester Castle', due to the embattled, medieval design of its frontage, and its unique appearance has also made it one of the city's most celebrated landmarks. Known throughout the nineteenth century as the 'County Gaol', today the prison has become synonymous with the thoroughfare on which it stands, and is commonly referred to as 'Welford Road Prison', or simply, 'Welford Road'.
History
The prison was designed by Leicester county surveyor William Parsons to resemble a castle and cost £20,000. The oldest part dates from 1825, and it was opened in 1828. The gatehouse including the adjoining building to north and south and the perimeter wall are grade II listed.
The journalist William Cobbett, who wrote about his journeys around England in the early 19th century, criticised the people of Leicester for being proud of their new prison, feeling that it would be more praiseworthy to have an absence of crime.
The prison's distinctive, red brick perimeter walls are thought to be the highest in the country, with an estimated height of 30 feet.
The only known escape by a prisoner through scaling the wall was an ill-fated one, made by renowned 'safe-blower', Albert Hattersley on the evening of 18 December 1953. Hattersley made his way through a skylight in the prison's workshop and used webbing and a long pipe which he had broken from a wall in the workshop toilets to help him scale the wall. He then chose to drop by his fingertips from a part of the wall which was located above the governor's garden, in the hope that the soft earth would help break his fall. However, Hattersley suffered a broken ankle, with his right tibia protruding the skin. After several hours on the run, he was re-captured the following day.
In 2014, it was reported that prison officers had thwarted a similar plan for an escape over the wall by an inmate who was serving six years for robbery. In describing what was envisaged by the inmate as a "Shawshank Redemption-style prison break", the Leicester Mercury reported that following a search of his cell, prison guards had discovered torn bed sheets tied together "to form ropes", along with mattress covers adjusted for use in negotiating barbed wire. It was reported that they also discovered a "boarded-up section" in the cell, with a panel that could be removed to access a hole the prisoner had been digging.
Building
The gatehouse, adjoining buildings and perimeter wall are Grade II listed. It was built between 1825-28 by William Parsons, the county surveyor, and received additions between 1844-46 by M.J. Dain.
Executions at Leicester Prison
There have been 23 executions carried out at Leicester Prison, between the years 1829 and 1953. The youngest person executed was John Swift, aged 19 in 1877, and the oldest was Thomas Bloxham, aged 62, in 1887. With the exception of the first four executions (carried out for offences of horse theft and highway robbery), all executions were carried out for offences of murder. All of those executed were male, with the exception of Sarah Smith in 1832 and there have been two triple executions, in 1829 and 1877, and two double executions, in 1903 and 1944.
19th Century public executions
Executions at Leicester Prison were originally carried out publicly, typically attracting many thousands of spectators.
On 20 April 1829, a triple execution was carried out in front of the newly opened prison when Charles Forrester (21), John Hinton (25) and William Varnam (24) were hanged for horse stealing. In reporting the incident, the Leicester Chronicle newspaper noted that after the executioner had pulled caps over the faces of the condemned men, "a short but painful suspense took place, owing to some difficulty in removing the bolt which causes the platform on which they stood, to fall". It was also noted that about half of the huge crowd that had assembled to watch the event were women and children.
On 7 April 1830, John Watkins (28) was hanged for highway robbery.