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| Reading Prison of Oscar Wilde fame closing 'early' | |
| (about 17 hours later) | |
| Reading Prison is to close later, the Ministry of Justice has confirmed. | |
| HMP Reading was to shut on 20 December under government plans to replace four prisons with a super-prison, but a spokesman said all 320 prisoners would be gone by the end of the day. | |
| The Prison Service said it was aiming to avoid compulsory redundancies by redeploying staff or offering voluntary early departures. | The Prison Service said it was aiming to avoid compulsory redundancies by redeploying staff or offering voluntary early departures. |
| The prison was the subject of the Oscar Wilde poem The Ballad Of Reading Gaol. | The prison was the subject of the Oscar Wilde poem The Ballad Of Reading Gaol. |
| Tourist attraction | |
| "The closure of HMP Reading is part of a programme to replace old, inefficient places with newer, modern accommodation that provides better value for taxpayers while helping rehabilitate offenders and bring down our stubbornly high reoffending rates," the Prison Service said. | "The closure of HMP Reading is part of a programme to replace old, inefficient places with newer, modern accommodation that provides better value for taxpayers while helping rehabilitate offenders and bring down our stubbornly high reoffending rates," the Prison Service said. |
| The Ministry of Justice said some prison officers would be left at the site to help with the "decommissioning process". | The Ministry of Justice said some prison officers would be left at the site to help with the "decommissioning process". |
| Acclaimed Irish writer Wilde was sentenced to two years' hard labour for gross indecency after his affair with Alfred Douglas was exposed in 1895. | Acclaimed Irish writer Wilde was sentenced to two years' hard labour for gross indecency after his affair with Alfred Douglas was exposed in 1895. |
| The Oscar Wilde Society has called for the building to be preserved, possibly as a tourist attraction. | |
| Since 1992 the Grade II-listed building has served as a remand centre and young offenders institution, holding prisoners between the ages of 18 and 21 years. | Since 1992 the Grade II-listed building has served as a remand centre and young offenders institution, holding prisoners between the ages of 18 and 21 years. |
| The government plans to replace 1,400 prison places in England and Wales with a £250m facility in Wrexham, which will hold more than 2,000 inmates. | The government plans to replace 1,400 prison places in England and Wales with a £250m facility in Wrexham, which will hold more than 2,000 inmates. |