History
The original Feltham institution 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 current 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 prison also has a notorious reputation for violent assaults both inside and outside of the prison service. Proposals made to distance HMP Feltham from its reputation included the suggestion of renaming it to 'HMP Bedfont Lakes'. However this proposition has met little support.
The most recent inspection by Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons 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.
Read more about this topic: HM Prison Feltham
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