When the gates of HMP Five Wells first swung open, the then Home Secretary promised that Britain’s newest super-jail would be no ‘soft touch’.
Three and a half years later, that claim is very much open to debate.
The rooms – ensuite, brightly painted and with barless windows – are equipped with TVs and electronic tablets, giving the feel of university accommodation.
‘Shower in his cell, lake view, phone, tablets to text and email on,’ observed the partner of one prisoner. ‘Wouldn’t mind swapping for a weekend to be fair.’
There’s also plenty to keep inmates, referred to by guards by their first names, entertained – a gym, soccer pitches and even yoga classes. As for the work placements and courses on offer, they range from hairdressing and bike repairs to sewing tote bags from recycled denim.
Good behaviour brings further perks, from the right to order a takeaway from the prison cafe to a congratulatory letter from one of the governors. Visits from loved-ones are encouraged. They’re allowed to kiss and cuddle partners and, for £2.50, inmates can buy a photograph of their reunion.
Last Christmas, the Daily Mail can reveal, two miniature donkeys were transported to the Northamptonshire jail to further enliven family visits. ‘Helping to make good memories,’ read the headline on the social media post recording the event.
The aim of the £238 million Category C prison is to rehabilitate the inmates, all of whom are serving short sentences or nearing the end of their time inside.
The prison cells at HMP Five Wells in Wellingborough, East Midlands, are ensuite and equipped with TVs and electronic tablets
The institution also boasts a state-of-the-art gym filled with weight machines
All well and good if it works. But in recent weeks and months Five Wells has been making headlines for very different reasons.
Just last week prison officer Aimee Duke was jailed for ‘inappropriate relationships’ with inmates there. The 26-year-old was caught exchanging hundreds of messages and calls with two prisoners, one of whom was serving 20 years for firearms offences. Scrutiny of CCTV discovered illicit meetings within the jail. Shockingly, she is the third female prison officer from Five Wells to find herself in court facing similar charges in the past year.
In February, Toni Cole, 29, was jailed for 12 months after sending more than 4,300 flirtatious messages to an inmate and admitting having an inappropriate physical relationship with him.
And last year Rachel Stanton, 31, narrowly avoided prison after she had a baby with an armed robber and sent him ‘sexually explicit’ love letters.
Staff have told the Daily Mail that too many inexperienced staff continue to be employed at the jail, which is privately run by G4S, leaving them vulnerable to manipulation by prisoners. A recent prison inspection found that more than 70 per cent of staff had been ‘in post’ for less than two years.
As one staff member bluntly told us: ‘I’ve been a prison officer for a long time and this is not the prison service I joined. If you commit a crime and you know you are going to Five Wells then you’re laughing. There is no real sense here that anyone is actually being punished for a crime.
‘On some wings there is no doubt it is run by the prisoners. I’ve had prisoners complain that their bed isn’t comfortable or that their TV picture isn’t very good. We are told by the higher-ups that we have to log all of these complaints and they need to be acted on. They’re just taking the p***.’
The rapidly changing nature of Five Wells’ prison population makes this all the more worrying. Recently, the number of sex offenders has dramatically increased – today they make up more than 70 per cent of the 1,700 prisoners housed there.
Significantly, they are not put on segregated wings – but mixed across the whole prison as part of an ‘offence-neutral’ policy.
It’s a controversial move – normally ‘nonces’ (the slang name given to inmates convicted of sex crimes) are kept apart from other prisoners for their own safety.
The risks of mixed wings were highlighted a year ago when a sex offender was beaten to death at Fosse Way, another new prison that, together with Five Wells, had pioneered the approach. As a result of the brutal murder, wings to exclusively house sex offenders were re-introduced at Fosse Way.
But not at Five Wells. Instead, incoming inmates are made to sign a contract in which they agree not to harass or intimidate sex offenders, or risk losing privileges. However the policy is not popular, particularly with prisoners whose children visit.
‘The sex offender issue is a big deal for both prison officers and non sex offender inmates,’ one prison officer told the Daily Mail this week. ‘How are you meant to treat somebody who has sexually abused a baby? There’s no training for that. I don’t think inexperienced prison officers can cope so they just leave.
Toni Cole, 29, was jailed in February for 12 months after sending more than 4,300 flirtatious messages to an inmate and admitting having an inappropriate physical relationship with him
And just last week, prison officer Aimee Duke, 26, was jailed for ‘inappropriate relationships’ with inmates – one of whom serving 20 years for firearms offences
‘And the other prisoners struggle with it – they might lash out or withdraw to their cells or stick with people who they know. It has a negative impact on them.’
A review of Five Wells carried out by the Prison Inspectorate last November found that self-harm has reached a level described as the highest among similar prisons, while the impact of integration had caused ‘anxiety’ among inmates.
‘This is a really big issue with partners of those who aren’t sex offenders in Five Wells,’ the wife of one inmate told us. ‘When I take my kids I sit at the front of the visiting room and they [the sex offenders] should be sat more to the middle or back. But sometimes they all mix together – it really depends. There’s nothing you can do about keeping your kids away from sex offenders – other than not take them. But I think that’s a bit extreme.
‘It’s worrying if you see a prisoner looking at your kids. He might be a normal bloke just missing his own kids but in Five Wells there are so many sex offenders you automatically assume that he could be a paedophile.’ Of course, the changing profile of prisoners also means those benefiting from the new prison and its light-touch regime are those who have committed crimes regarded by many as the most deserving of punishment.
Five Wells, in Wellingborough, was the first jail to be completed under the last Government’s plans to add 20,000 places to the nation’s crumbling prison estate.
And, in terms of the facilities, it certainly was a step-change from some existing Victorian buildings. Britain’s first eco-friendly prison, it was built using recycled materials while incorporating green energy. Accommodation is provided in seven X-shaped blocks with four floors each accommodating 60 prisoners.
The jail’s focus was to maximise prisoner rehabilitation and seek to break the cycle of reoffending.
Much of this was to be achieved with ‘prisoner-led initiatives’, whereby inmates are empowered to help with the running of the prison and rewarded with perks for good behaviour. ‘Five Wells isn’t really a prison – I would say it’s like a boarding school for adults,’ one prison officer told this newspaper. ‘The problem is that if you make prison too easy then it ceases to be a punishment.’
As the wife of another prisoner told us this week: ‘The cells are like university rooms. My partner has his own cell, a TV, a phone, toilet, shower and kettle. He has access to a gym where he can train every day. He can also attend classes and most prisoners can get a job if they want one. The staff call them residents, not prisoners. If you want to do your time in a nice environment and just get out it’s a good prison.
‘Wives and partners don’t look on it as a soft-touch prison – we just care about our partners and if we know they are happy and comfortable then we are. It’s an easy prison to do time in for sure.’
Two years ago Five Wells made headlines when video footage emerged from the jail that appeared to show inmates smoking drugs and downing shots of alcohol, as well as enjoying party food cooked in an air fryer.
One caption showed the group of prisoners boasting of having premium spirits – Ciroc and Grey Goose vodkas and Wray & Nephew rum. The men then licked salt from their hands and bit a lemon wedge before downing their shots, dancing to music and appearing to smoke cannabis.
‘They were partying it up for hours and so brazen about it,’ a source said. ‘Clearly they were not worried about guards coming in to spoil their fun.’
A G4S spokesperson said the cells of the prisoners involved in the videos had been searched and ‘appropriate action taken’, with inmates involved put on report and sent to be tested for drugs.
But official reports into how the prison has been functioning since it opened have not made easy reading. At its first inspection in January 2024, HM Inspectorate Of Prisons (HMIP) said inexperienced staff were not enforcing proper behaviour, self-harm was too high, healthcare provision was inadequate, drugs were too freely available and there was a failure to get people to education and training classes.
Then, last August, it faced the ignominy of finding itself in a list of 15 jails described as ‘of serious concern’, the lowest category of ratings produced by the Ministry of Justice. While this year has seen a marginal improvement in its rating, along with changes to its management that the HMIP said were bringing results, the findings of a BBC investigation in May suggest there are more problems to come because of the number of sex offenders now there.
When Five Wells opened, just one of the seven houseblocks was dedicated to sex offenders. But by March this year 1,206 out of 1,717 inmates had been convicted of a sex crime, meaning it now holds one of the highest numbers of sex offenders in Europe.
‘Shortly after my partner entered [HMP Five Wells], they came up with this scheme to integrate every part of the prison with monsters, the worst of the worst,’ one woman told the BBC. ‘The main prisoners had to sign a contract agreeing not to harass or intimidate them, but some of the men are turning to drugs because they can’t bear it.
‘He [her partner] was abused as a child, so for him it’s a massive struggle to live among the very people who hurt him – he’s so withdrawn, he’s depressed.’
A recently released prisoner, jailed for sharing indecent images, said attacks on sex offenders and bullying were commonplace.
‘There are people getting slashed, getting beat up, they’re getting violated sexually,’ he said. ‘The screws are doing nothing about it. A lot of it was in front of everyone.’
Rachel Stanton, 31, narrowly avoided prison last year after she had a baby with an armed robber and sent him ‘sexually explicit’ love letters. Here, she is pictured leaving Northampton Crown Court
One woman, writing on social media, told of an incident, witnessed by her son, in which an inmate had been attacked with ‘prison napalm’ – a solution of boiling water and sugar intended to inflict horrific burns.
Decisions on where to send offenders to serve their sentence are taken by the Prison Service.
Once allocated a jail, it is left to prison governors to decide how sex offenders are held – something that will be based on the circumstances of the individual offender and the local circumstances of the prison.
Asked about its policy with regards to sex offenders, a spokesperson for Five Wells said: ‘We receive prisoners as required by His Majesty’s Prison And Probation Service (HMPPS) and follow all national policy regarding their safety and that of visitors. We have always held men convicted of sexual offences as well as other offences.’
The spokesperson said that they ‘run a strict but fair regime’ and prisoners who break the rules ‘face consequences, including having privileges revoked’.
Sources at the prison point to the latest HMIP review which said steps were being taken to improve safety at the institution and to reduce self-harm.
As for inappropriate relationships between staff and prisoners, the spokesperson added: ‘We expect the highest standards from our employees and give them significant support to do their jobs, as well as robust and continuous training.
‘Five Wells works closely with the HMPPS Counter-Corruption Unit to proactively detect and disrupt wrongdoing.’
