Lewes is a Victorian prison, built in 1853. An early prisoner at Lewes was George Witton, a Lieutenant in the Bushveldt Carbineers in the Boer War in South Africa. He was imprisoned after being implicated in the shooting murder of Boer prisoners. While imprisoned in the UK from 1902, George Ramsdale Witton wrote the book "Scapegoats of the Empire". After some time Winston Churchill, himself a former prisoner of the Boers during the war, put a number of parliamentary questions to the Colonial Secretary about Witton's ongoing incarceration. The campaign for Witton's release was successful and Witton was pardoned by King Edward VII and was freed on 10 August 1904. Witton then return to Australia where he was welcomed as a hero by the then Prime Minister of Australia, Alfred Deakin. The 1980 film "Breaker Morant" depicts the story of the court martial and conviction of Morant, Hancock and Witton. During the 1916 Easter Rising in Ireland, several prominent figures involved in it were held at Lewes Prison, including Éamon de Valera ; Thomas Ashe ; Frank Lawless ; and Harry Boland. A £1 million healthcare suite opened in the prison in June 2004, with facilities to treat physically ill prisoners and a 19-bed unit for assessing mental health. In February 2008, an inspection report from Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons stated that one wing in Lewes Prison needed to be refurbished urgently after inspectors found that inmates had to eat their meals on toilets. The report also stated that anti-bullying and suicide prevention procedures at the prison were weak. However, inspectors found that vulnerable prisoners felt safe, and that the prison was decent overall. Two months later a new accommodation block for 174 inmates was opened at the prison, with a commitment from prison management to refurbish older wings at Lewes within the following 12 months. On 10 April 1852, Sarah Ann French was the last female to be hung at the prison for her crime of murdering her husband William French, the murder known in East Sussex as the Onion Pie Murder.
Riots
In October 2003, after 25 to 30 prisoners were involved in a riot just before nightly lock-up that led to property damage and the injury of an officer, officials launched an inquiry. In 2016 there was a riot lasting 6 hours when cells and offices were damaged, prison officers forced to retreat to safety. Mike Rolfe of the Prison Officers Association blamed severe staff shortage and bad management. Rolfee said, "There were only four staff on that wing and all four retreated to safety after threats of violence and the prisoners went on the rampage." Two years previously a serving officer said Lewes Prison, "resembled a warzone" due to severe staff shortage and drug smuggling. This is one of four serious incident within under two months, Riots also happened at Birmingham Prison, Bedford Prison. and Swaleside Prison.
The prison today
HMP Lewes is a category B local prison in the town of Lewes, East Sussex. Opened in 1853, the prison has capacity to hold 742 male inmates. A wing provides drug and alcohol support for 134 prisoners. C wing has 150 places for sentenced and unconvicted prisoners. F wing has 147 places for both unconvicted and convicted sex offenders and others requiring protection. F1 landing is the first night and induction centre housing 30 prisoners. G wing is a care and support unit and has units for 23 vulnerable and at risk prisoners. K wing is a drug and alcohol detox unit for 22 prisoners. L wing and M wing have 80 and 94 places for sentenced category C or D prisoners respectively. The health care unit has space for 12 prisoners. Accommodation at the prison consists mainly of shared cells, with some single accommodation. A new house block was opened at the prison in April 2008. The prison also has a First Night Centre for newly imprisoned / transferred inmates, and a Listener Scheme for those at risk of suicide and self-harm. The prison offers a range of full and part-time education including information technology, literacy, numeracy and life/social skills, and has weekly library access for all. Additional employment is offered in the prison workshops. An inspection of Lewes Prison in 2016 found it held 640 prisoners and was overcrowded. HM Chief Inspector of Prisons reported over a quarter of prisoners at Lewes said they felt depressed or suicidal. Not all staff had anti-ligature knives and some, "could not assure us that they would act appropriately in the event of a serious self-harm incident." Lewes Prison has held offenders ranging from 570 through to 590 through the courts of Sussex. There was an increase of recall to prison of offenders from police stations across Sussex because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Khalid Masood the terrorist shot dead after leading the Westminster attack of 2017, spent time here after convictions of assault, GBH and possession of an offensive weapon
