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Reading Prison of Oscar Wilde fame closing 'early' | Reading Prison of Oscar Wilde fame closing 'early' |
(about 1 hour later) | |
Reading Prison is to close later, the Ministry of Justice has confirmed. | 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. | 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 | Tourist attraction |
Steve Gillan, general secretary of the Prison Officers Association, said moving the inmates would cause more problems with new jails not ready for many years to come. | |
He added: "It's a recipe for disaster. These prisoners have been sent to already overcrowded jails. | |
"We are angry as it is a short-sighted approach to save money." | |
He said about 160 peopled worked at Reading with the "vast majority" being redeployed. | |
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 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. | 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. |