HM Prison Manchester is a Category A and B men's prison in Manchester, England, operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. It is still commonly referred to as Strangeways, which was its former official name derived from the area in which it is located, until it was rebuilt following a major riot in 1990. It is a local prison, holding prisoners remanded into custody from courts in the Manchester area and Category A prisoners (those held under maximum security conditions). The prison featured an execution chamber prior to the abolition of capital punishment in the United Kingdom in the 1960s; the last execution at the prison took place in 1964. Strangeways was designed by Alfred Waterhouse and opened in 1868 alongside the demolished Manchester Assize Courts. The prison is known for its prominent ventilation tower and imposing design, structured by the principles of the separate system.

History

Construction of the Grade II listed prison was completed in 1869, to replace the New Bailey Prison in Salford, which closed in 1868. The prison, designed by Alfred Waterhouse in 1862 with input from Joshua Jebb, cost £170,000 and had a capacity of 1,000 inmates. Its 234 ft tall ventilation tower (often mistaken for a watchtower) has become a local landmark. The prison's walls, which are rumoured to be 16 feet thick, are said to be impenetrable from either inside or out. The prison has an element of the separate system with its plan in the form of a star or a snowflake, with two blocks housing ten wings that emanate from a central core where the ventilation tower is situated. The prison consists of two radial blocks branching from the central core with a total of ten wings (A to F in one block, and G, H, I, and K in the second). The jail was built on the grounds of Strangeways Park and Gardens, from which it was named. Strangeways was recorded in 1322 as Strangwas from the Anglo-Saxon Strang and gewæsc meaning "[a place by] a stream with a strong current". The prison was open to male and female prisoners until 1963 when the facility became male-only, and in 1980, it began to accept remand prisoners. As of 2005, the prison held more than 1,200 inmates.

As a place of execution

Originally, the prison contained an execution shed in B wing and after World War I a special execution room and cell for the condemned criminal was built. Strangeways was one of the few prisons to have permanent gallows. The first execution at Strangeways was that of twenty-year-old murderer Michael Johnson, who was hanged by William Calcraft on 29 March 1869. Twenty-nine hangings took place over the next twenty years and 71 took place in the 20th century, bringing the total number to 100. During the second half of the century, the number of executions decreased, with no hangings between 1954 and 28 November 1962, when James Smith was executed. John Robson Walby (alias Gwynne Owen Evans), one of the last two people to be hanged in England, was executed here on 13 August 1964. Out of the 100 hangings, four were double hangings, while the rest were done individually. The "quickest hanging" of James Inglis, in seven seconds, carried out by Albert Pierrepoint, took place here.

Other executions

The bodies of executed criminals were buried in unmarked graves within the prison walls, as was the custom. During prison rebuilding work in 1991, the remains of 63 executed prisoners (of which 45 were identifiable) were exhumed from unmarked graves in the prison cemetery and cremated at Blackley Crematorium in Manchester. The cremated remains were re-interred in two graves (plot C2710 and C2711) at the adjacent cemetery. The following people were hanged at Manchester Prison between 1869 and 1964:

Strangeways riots

Between 1 April and 25 April 1990, 147 staff and 47 prisoners were injured in a series of riots by prison inmates. There was one fatality among the prisoners, and one prison officer died from heart failure. Much of the old prison was damaged or destroyed in the rioting. Several inmates were charged with various offences, and Paul Taylor and Alan Lord faced a five-month trial as ringleaders. The riots resulted in the Woolf Inquiry, and the prison was rebuilt and renamed Her Majesty's Prison, Manchester. Repair and modernisation cost more than £80 million after the riot, and rebuilding was completed in 1994.

The prison post-1994

The prison is a high-security category A prison for adult males and has a maximum capacity of 1,269 as of 4 August 2008. Operation of the prison was put out to tender in 1994 and 2001. Accommodation is divided into nine wings in two radial blocks. Cells are a mixture of single and double occupancy, all having in-cell power points and integral sanitation. The prison has become known for a high suicide rate following its reopening in 1994. From 1993 to 2003, Strangeways prison had the second highest number of suicides among inmates of any prison in the United Kingdom and, in 2004, Strangeways had the highest number of suicides in the country. Education and vocational training is provided by the Manchester College. Courses offered include information technology, ESOL, numeracy, industrial cleaning, bricklaying, painting and decorating, plastering, textiles and laundry. The prison's gym runs courses in physical education and offers recreational sport and fitness programmes. In 2015, The Daily Telegraph reported that a drone aircraft was being used in an attempt to deliver drugs and smartphones to precise locations within the prison. In 2016, Nicky Reilly, also known as Mohammed Saeed Alim, a Muslim convert was found dead in his cell after hanging himself. Reilly had a chronic history of self harm, and it was also known that he was autistic and had a personality disorder. A jury decided it was "more likely than not" that he did not intend to die and "acted impulsively." It is unclear if Reilly understood the concept of death or could form the intent to die. Senior coroner, Joanne Kearsley said evidence given at the court raised "significant concerns." Kearsley said she was not convinced the prison had a clear plan and awareness of his needs and she questioned why he was not under a care programme approach (CPA) where care coordinators are given to individual prisoners. The coroner asked whether a type of review should be considered for prisoners with recognised lifelong mental health problems and chronic risk of self-harm. In 2017, a report by the Independent Monitoring Board described Manchester Prison as squalid, vermin infested and reminiscent of Dickensian England. The report added that the prison urgently needed modernisation and assaults on staff have risen owing to staff shortages. In 2022, Manchester City Council leader Bev Craig called on the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to move HMP Manchester elsewhere in the region, as the building is "not suitable for the significant remodelling or expansion it would need to meet modern-day requirements for a prison". However, the MoJ said there were "no plans to close or relocate" the jail.

Notable inmates

Cultural references