Shepton Mallet (HM Prison)

Infobox HM Prison
name = HMP Shepton Mallet

---

size = 220px
caption =
opened = 1610
type = Adult Male/Category C
figures = 186 (August 2008)
location = Shepton Mallet, Somerset
governor = Nick Evans
prisonid = 596

HMP Shepton Mallet, sometimes known as Cornhill, is a prison located in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, England. It is the United Kingdom's oldest operating prison.cite web | url= http://www.sheptonmallet.org/infopage.asp?infoid=251 | work= Shepton Mallet Town Council | title= Historic Buildings of Shepton Mallet | accessdate= 2007-08-30 ] Shepton Mallet is a Category C Lifer Prison and holds 182 prisoners. The prison is a grade II* listed building. [cite web | title=HM Prison and perimeter wall | work=Images of England | url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/search/details.aspx?id=266490 | accessdate=2006-10-25]

History

The prison was first opened as a civilian jail from 1610 to 1930. During this time a total of 7 judicial executions took place within its walls between 1889 and 1926:

*Samuel Rylands - 13 March 1889
*Henry Dainton - 15 December 1891
*Charles Squires - 10 August 1893
*Henry Quarterly 10 November 1914
*Verney Hasser - 5 March 1918
*William Bignall - 24 February 1925
*John Lincoln - 2 March 1926

All of the condemned men were hanged for the crime of murder. Their remains were buried in unmarked graves within the walls of the prison, as was customary following British executions.

1904 fire

At 10.15pm on Saturday 2 July 1904 a fire, believed to have been started by a prisoner, was discovered in C block. [Source: Shepton Mallet Journal 8 July 1904, quoted in cite book |title=The Anglo: The History of the Anglo Bavarian Brewery, Shepton Mallet, 1864-1994 |last= Davis| first= Fred|year= |publisher=J H Haskins & Son Ltd|isbn=0-9524646-0-6]

The alarm was raised by the ringing of the prison bell and within ten minutes the town fire brigade, which was provided by the Anglo-Bavarian Brewery, was in attendance. They were joined at about midnight by the Wells brigade and at about 3:00am by the Frome and Glastonbury brigades.

The fire had spread quickly within C block and was fought by prisoners, warders and firemen working together; prisoners helped to man the hoses and worked the fire engine pumps in shifts. Despite the opportunity offered by the disruption, no prisoner attempted to escape.

There were no fatalities as a result of the fire, and no major injuries. Whilst contemporary photographs show that the roof of C block was substantially destroyed, the building itself, being constructed of stone and concrete, remained nearly intact.

Military use

The prison was closed from 1930 until 1939 and the start of the Second World War, when it was reopened, at first for the protective storage of important government archives including Magna Carta and the Domesday Book, but subsequently for the use of the US Army for American Military use. The prison was entirely staffed by American military personnel during this period.

Under the provisions of the United States of America (Visiting Forces) Act 1942, a total of eighteen American servicemen were executed within the prison walls. Sixteen were hanged in the execution block and two were shot by firing squad in the prison yard. Three of the hangings were double executions i.e. both condemned prisoners stood together on the gallows and were executed simultaneously when the trap-door opened. The executioner at the most of the hangings was Thomas William Pierrepoint, assisted mainly by his more famous nephew Albert Pierrepoint, though some other assistant executioners were used. Executions by hanging took place after midnight, at around 1.00 am. Of the 18 men executed, nine were convicted of murder, six of rape, and three of both crimes.

In 1942 a small, two-storey building containing a gallows was constructed adjoining one of the prison wings. [cite web | url= http://www.richard.clark32.btinternet.co.uk/sheptonm.html | title= Shepton Mallet prison in Somerset | accessdate= 2007-08-30] The flat-roofed execution block has a single window, approximately on a level with the trap-door. It is sandwiched tightly between two much larger buildings, close to the rear of the prison. Visually, it clashes with the other architecture because it is made of brick, whereas the rest of the prison is constructed from stone. The execution block still exists, but was converted to other uses in the late 1960s after the gallows equipment was removed. The precise location of the execution block within the prison is coord|51|11|25.87|N|2|32|34.59|W|region:GB_scale:1000|display=inline.

The names and dates of American military executions are as follows:

* David Cobb [b] 21 yrs - 12 March 1943 - Murder of Lieutenant Robert Cobnor
* Harold A. Smith - 25 June 1943 - Murder of Henry Jenkins
* Lee A. Davis [b] - 14 December 1943 - Murder of Cynthia Lay & rape of Muriel Fawden
* John Waters 39 yrs - 10 February 1944 - Murder of Doris Staples (girlfriend, 35 yrs old)
* J.C. Leatherberry - 16 March 1944 - Murder of Henry Hailstone (taxi driver)
* Wiley Harris [b] - 26 May 1944 - Murder of Harry Coogan (pimp)
* Alex Miranda - 30 May 1944 - Murder of Sergeant Thomas Evison (executed by firing squad)
* Eliga Brinson & Willie Smith - 11 August 1944 - Rape of Dorothy Holmes
* Madison Thomas [b] - 12 October 1944 - Rape of Beatrice Reynolds
* Benjamin Pyegate - 28 November 1944 - Murder of James Alexander, a fellow soldier (executed by firing squad)
* Ernest Clarke [w] & Augustine Guerra [w] - 8 January 1945 - Rape and murder of Elizabeth Green (15 yrs old)
* Robert Pearson [b] & Parson Jones [b] - 17 March 1945 - Rape of Joyce Brown (7 months pregnant)
* William Harrison [b] - 7 April 1945 - Sexual assault and murder of Patricia Wylie (7 yrs old)
* George E. Smith - 8 May 1945 (i.e. VE day) - Murder of Eric Teichman
* Aniceto Martinez [h] - 15 June 1945 - Rape of Agnes Cope (75 yrs old)

Note: the race of the prisoner (where known) appears in square brackets after the name.

* b = black (African-American)
* w = white (Caucasian)
* h = hispanic (Mexican-American)

Initially, the remains of executed American prisoners at Shepton Mallet were interred in unmarked graves at Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey. However, circa 1949 all eighteen bodies were exhumed. In what appears to have been an administrative error, the remains of David Cobb were repatriated to Dothan, Alabama. The remaining 17 were reburied in Plot "E" at Oise-Aisne American Cemetery and Memorial in France. Plot "E" is a private section for the "dishonored dead" which adjoins (but is not part of) the main cemetery. Visits to Plot "E" are not encouraged. Public access is difficult because the area is surrounded by a wall and is closed to visitors. In any case, all the black grave markers bear numbers not names, so identification of individual soldiers is impossible without the key.

After the war, the prison was taken over by the British Army and became a British Military prison for service personnel. It became well known to British servicemen as 'the glass house', including the Kray twins who, while serving out their national service in the gaol after absconding met Charlie Richardson. The prison was finally returned to civilian use in 1966. It has held and still holds many notorious criminals.

References

External links

* [http://www.hmprisonservice.gov.uk/prisoninformation/locateaprison/prison.asp?id=596,15,2,15,596,0 Prison website]
* [http://www.soci.niu.edu/~critcrim/dp/dppapers/lil.dirty.details Dirty Details: Executing U.S. Soldiers During WW II (describes executions at Shepton Mallet)]
* [http://www.richard.clark32.btinternet.co.uk/sheptonm.html American Military Executions In the United Kingdom during WW II]
* [http://prison-history.co.uk/new_page_7.htm External view of brick-built 1940s execution room at Shepton Mallet]