HM Prison Lancaster Farms

HM Prison Lancaster Farms is a category C male prison, located on the outskirts of Lancaster, Lancashire, England. The prison is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service, and is part of the HMP North Lancashire and Cumbria Estate (along with HMP Haverigg).

1. History

Lancaster Farms Prison opened in March 1993 as a Young Offenders Institution and remand centre. Two new units were opened at the site in June 1996, doubling the prison's capacity. In May 2001 two of the prison's units were re-roled to hold juvenile prisoners. In August 2001 The Howard League for Penal Reform claimed that conditions at Lancaster Farms Prison failed to meet standards laid out in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Research found evidence of bullying, limited access to daylight or open air, lack of specialist training for staff and lack of individual care for inmates at the prison. In July 2003 Lancaster Farms was found to be one of the five highest performing prisons in England and Wales. The league table was compiled by HM Prison Service. In April 2007 a report from Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons stated that conditions were improving at Lancaster Farms, and that the prison maintained a reasonably safe and respectful environment. However the report criticised the amount of time inmates spent in their cells, and urged improvement in the prison's anti-bullying procedures and education opportunities. Over the course of 2008 and 2009, all remaining juvenile inmates were transferred from Lancaster Farms to other prisons and the establishment was dedicated to holding young offenders aged 18 to 21. Lee Davies, corrections officer who worked at Lancaster Farms, smuggled mobile phones and drugs into that prison before being caught while on duty. He served a few months in prison in 2012. In September 2014, the prison was once again re-roled to hold category C adult male prisoners from the NW region.

1. Current status

Lancaster Farms holds only sentenced category C adult males from Northwest England, especially from the Greater Manchester area. The prison, which has four secure units, comprises mostly single occupancy cells although there are some double cells. Activities for inmates at the prison include Learning & Skills, Workshops (including Painting and Decorating, Building Trades, Multi-skills, Art, Information Technology, Catering, Waste Management), Farms & Gardens, Industrial Cleaning and Physical Education. Several partner organisations are located on-site, they include Lancashire Probation Trust, Lancashire Youth Offending Team, Manchester College, Lancashire Care Foundation Trust, Connexions, Jobcentre Plus, Lifeline, SOVA, the National Youth Advocacy Service, the YMCA, the British Red Cross and the Prince's Trust.

1. Notable inmates

Elliot Castro, fraudster who served four months in the young offenders' institute in 2001 Sean Mercer, shot dead 11-year-old boy in Liverpool in August 2007.

1. References


1. External links

Ministry of Justice pages on Lancaster Farms

Nearby Places View Menu

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War Memorial, Lancaster Cemetery

The War Memorial, Lancaster Cemetery, was built to commemorate those lost in the Crimean War. It was erected in 1860, and designed by the local architect E. G. Paley. Its estimated cost was £120–140, but Paley made no charge for it. The monument is constructed in carboniferous limestone and consists of an obelisk on three steps. Its inscriptions include the names of the local men who died in the war. The obelisk stands 34 feet (10 m) high. The monument is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.

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Lancaster Cemetery Chapels

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Central Lancaster High School

Lancaster High School (LHS) is a coeducational secondary school located in Lancaster, England. Located on Crag Road on the Ridge area in east Lancaster.

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Bulk, Lancashire

Bulk is an area of Lancaster, Lancashire, England. It was formerly a township and a civil parish. The placename Bulke was recorded in 1346. The manor of Neuton was recorded in this area in the Domesday Book but by 1318 Newton was described as a hamlet within Bulk. The civil parish of Bulk was in Lancaster Rural District until 9 November 1900 when most of it (179 houses) was incorporated into the civil parish of Lancaster, with 9 houses going into the civil parish of Quernmore. The population of the civil parish of Bulk was 116 in 1871, 117 in 1881, and 671 in 1891. Bulk lies north of the city centre of Lancaster, and on the same side, the east, of the River Lune. The parish extended along the river to a point south of Halton on the other bank, the boundary then turning south and curving round towards Lancaster. There was a church mission room in Bulk by 1914. The mission's World War I war memorial has been relocated to the redundant St John's Church in Lancaster, and carries the names of 33 men from Bulk district, 30 of whom survived. The 11th Lancaster Scout group was based at the mission in the 1940s.

Landmark Neighbourhood