Manchester (HM Prison) : Attraction of Manchester

HM Prison Manchester is a British prison.

It was opened as Strangeways Prison in 1869 to replace Salford’s New Bailey Prison which had closed the previous year. The name came from the Strangeways Park and Gardens on which it was built. It was designed by Alfred Waterhouse, assisted by Joshua Jebb, on the panopticon principle.

However, in the 1990s the names of prisons were removed in the UK. Although it is now formally known as Her Majesty’s Prison, Manchester, many still refer to it as Strangeways.

It is situated in the centre of Manchester, along Southall Street, and is next door to the (now closed) Boddingtons brewery. Its central watch-tower can be seen from several miles around.

It originally held both male and female prisoners but, since 1963, it has been solely for male convicts. Over a hundred people were executed at Manchester Prison by hanging. Capital punishment was de facto abolished in the UK in 1964 and the last convict to be executed was hanged in Manchester Prison on August 13, 1964.

In April 1990, the Strangeways Riots took place. For almost four weeks, prisoners staged a rooftop protest. Over two hundred inmates and prison guards were injured and one prisoner was killed. A major rebuilding and refurbishment effort followed and the prison was re-opened in 1994.