Feltham (HM Prison)

Infobox HM Prison
name = HMP Feltham


size =
caption =
opened = 1910
type = Young Offenders Institution
figures = 764 (January 2008)
location = Feltham, London
governor = Cathy Robinson
prisonid = 364

HM Young Offender Institution and Remand Centre Feltham, more commonly known as Feltham Young Offenders' Institution or simply HMP Feltham, is a prison near Feltham town in the southwest of London, England.

The Institution was formed in 1991 as a result of a merger between Feltham Borstal and the Ashford Remand Centre. It is managed directly by Her Majesty's Prison Service using crown constable prison officers, rather than management being contracted out to a private firm.

In recent years the Institution has been repeatedly criticised in reports for allegedly having a climate of racism amongst certain officers. The reports follow in the wake of the murder of Zahid Mubarek by his racist cellmate Robert Stewart on the day Mubarek was due to be released.

The original Feltham was built in 1854 as an Industrial School and was taken over in 1910 by the Prison Commissioners as their second Borstal institution. The existing building opened as a Remand Centre in March 1988.

The most recent inspection by HMCIP was in May 2005. The 2005 Report highlighted the progress made and praised the effective reception and induction procedures, the Outreach Team that deal with self harm issues and the measures in place to deal with race relations issues. Excellent voluntary sector work takes place within Feltham with a full time voluntary sector co-ordinator managing the 25 plus agencies operating within Feltham.

Young adults and young people occupy different residential units. Each residential unit is named after a bird. They are, on the young offender (Feltham A) side, there is Kestrel, Lapwing, Mallard, Nightingale, Osprey, Partridge, Quail, Raven, Swallow and Teal. Each unit holds approximatley 60 prisoners. And on the juvenile (Feltahm B) side, Albatross, Bittern, Curlew, Dunlin, Eagle, Falcon, Grebe, Heron and Jay. Each unit holds 30 prisoners.

Almost all the juvenile rooms are for single occupation. There is a mixture of double and single accommodation on the young adult side. All rooms have integral sanitation and TV and all areas operate the IEP scheme (incentives and earned privileges scheme). There is a robust anti-bullying policy in place. Locked complaint boxes are located on each unit for young adults and young people to make complaints.

There are two race relations/diversity managers and equal opportunities/disability managers. There are PIN Phones on each unit and every young adult and young person arriving at Feltham is given his own PIN with an automatic £2 of credit. Any money for the young people and young adults should be sent in the form of a postal order which should be made payable to HM Prison Service and have the young person's name and number on the reverse. Regime includes education (full/part-time), workshops, vocational training in the construction industry, farms and gardens, works, and NVQs. Various types of offending behaviour groups are available – ETS (enhanced thinking skills), STAR (Stop, Think, Act, Reflect) Understanding Anger and IPRS (relationship skills). There are other special features such as; the use of voluntary agencies, one to one teaching, substance misuse work, and pre-release courses.

HMP Feltham has a notorious reputation for violent assaults both inside and outside of the prison service. Proposals made to try and distance HMP Feltham from its reputation included the suggestion of renaming it to 'HMP Bedfont Lakes'. However this proposition has met little support.

It is the subject of the Hard-Fi track "Feltham Is Singing Out".

External links and references

* [http://www.hmprisonservice.gov.uk/prisoninformation/locateaprison/prison.asp?id=364,15,2,15,364,0 HM Prison Service page about Feltham]
* [http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/docs/felt99.html A 1999 report on Feltham from Her Majesty's Inspectorate]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1017731.stm BBC News report on the 2000 investigation into Zahid Mubarek]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/4105235.stm BBC News report on a 2004 investigation into the prison by the Hounslow Committee for Racial Equality Council] .