HMP Blundeston - Catagory B
Well after spotting a report on here from last week for HMP Blundeston I was a sad to discover I had missed out on it being open to local folk for a day at the weekend before being handed over to demo crews on Monday :-(
I thought I’d still have a crack at it and can confirm its now locked up with high vis demo chaps wandering around inside and a JCB on site. It quickly became apparent a B&Q extendable ladder was not going to deal with the two 22ft steel perimeter fences and my jeans are not an adequate protection of a gentleman’s precious area against the rolled razor wire on top!
So ‘’Operation Reverse Prison Break’’ was go go go… access is one way in one way out and involved me spending almost two hours squatting in a shrubbery waiting for the ‘window of opportunity’. Once in it immediately hits you how grim this place is... given that the last prison I wandered around (HMP Shrewsbury) was an old Victorian jail with bucket loads of natural light, bright walls and high ceilings, Blundeston despite being comparatively modern built in the 60's is dark, miserable and a depressing warren of corridors and tiny damp cells, some of which had four beds crammed in and sharing a single wing toilet between 12 cells! There is one modern block at the bottom of the site that’s a bit brighter.
Prison Van vehicle bay with roof mounted mirror to check for them naughty buggers hiding on the top of vehicles trying to escape
C-Wing looks to have been used for police fire arms training and dog searches
Looking out from the kitchen across the central exercise area
A four bed cell (I'm sat on the other bunk) with the luxury of a dedicated toilet, most single cells have no toilet and share a single on out on the wing…. Mmmmmm…. smells reeeeeal good.
Prison officer observation box labelled ‘India 2’
The new block at the bottom of the site, looks a bit like Pontins for bad lads but with steel doors and bars on the windows
Main front gate controls and door locks
Single cell on one of the original 1960’s wings, tiny damp and miserable with a metal bed bolted to the floor
A gentle reminder to the pie monsters painted on the wall in the food prep kitchen
G Wing, cages over the windows to prevent stuff being launched at the officers
Dem G wing boyz azgot proper rank cells innit
Visitors room, covered in mirrors
Access to the four stories of C Wing
C wing cells, these have electronically opening cell doors
Front exercise yard
Main entrance prisoner reception with the holding tank opposite
G wing double bunk cell
Not a badly fitted carpet, the prison Mosque with all the rectangles facing Mecca
Solitary confinement. This is the serious stuff, A double walled cell, build inside another cell. A hidden passage runs between the inner and outer cells where officers could access foot ladders built into the wall to climb and get on top of the cell to look in through ceiling mounted spy holes. This is because prisoners would wipe excellent excrement on the wall and door mounted spy holes to stop them being watched.
On top of the inner solitary confinement cell
Inside the solitary confinement cell
Well after spotting a report on here from last week for HMP Blundeston I was a sad to discover I had missed out on it being open to local folk for a day at the weekend before being handed over to demo crews on Monday :-(
I thought I’d still have a crack at it and can confirm its now locked up with high vis demo chaps wandering around inside and a JCB on site. It quickly became apparent a B&Q extendable ladder was not going to deal with the two 22ft steel perimeter fences and my jeans are not an adequate protection of a gentleman’s precious area against the rolled razor wire on top!
So ‘’Operation Reverse Prison Break’’ was go go go… access is one way in one way out and involved me spending almost two hours squatting in a shrubbery waiting for the ‘window of opportunity’. Once in it immediately hits you how grim this place is... given that the last prison I wandered around (HMP Shrewsbury) was an old Victorian jail with bucket loads of natural light, bright walls and high ceilings, Blundeston despite being comparatively modern built in the 60's is dark, miserable and a depressing warren of corridors and tiny damp cells, some of which had four beds crammed in and sharing a single wing toilet between 12 cells! There is one modern block at the bottom of the site that’s a bit brighter.
Prison Van vehicle bay with roof mounted mirror to check for them naughty buggers hiding on the top of vehicles trying to escape
C-Wing looks to have been used for police fire arms training and dog searches
Looking out from the kitchen across the central exercise area
A four bed cell (I'm sat on the other bunk) with the luxury of a dedicated toilet, most single cells have no toilet and share a single on out on the wing…. Mmmmmm…. smells reeeeeal good.
Prison officer observation box labelled ‘India 2’
The new block at the bottom of the site, looks a bit like Pontins for bad lads but with steel doors and bars on the windows
Main front gate controls and door locks
Single cell on one of the original 1960’s wings, tiny damp and miserable with a metal bed bolted to the floor
A gentle reminder to the pie monsters painted on the wall in the food prep kitchen
G Wing, cages over the windows to prevent stuff being launched at the officers
Dem G wing boyz azgot proper rank cells innit
Visitors room, covered in mirrors
Access to the four stories of C Wing
C wing cells, these have electronically opening cell doors
Front exercise yard
Main entrance prisoner reception with the holding tank opposite
G wing double bunk cell
Not a badly fitted carpet, the prison Mosque with all the rectangles facing Mecca
Solitary confinement. This is the serious stuff, A double walled cell, build inside another cell. A hidden passage runs between the inner and outer cells where officers could access foot ladders built into the wall to climb and get on top of the cell to look in through ceiling mounted spy holes. This is because prisoners would wipe excellent excrement on the wall and door mounted spy holes to stop them being watched.
On top of the inner solitary confinement cell
Inside the solitary confinement cell
