£8.3m prison upgrade plans approved

Tuesday 16 April 2019

Plans have been approved for an £8.3million upgrade to La Moye prison, which will see improved visitor facilities and satellite office space for States staff operating in the west of the island.

Part of a modernisation programme aimed at making the prison safer, more modern and more secure, the extension will now go out to tender with work expected to be finished at the end of next year or the beginning of 2021.

Four existing wings will be demolished to make way for a three-storey gatehouse extension to the staff and visitor block.  In addition to enhancing facilities for staff at the prison, the extension will also provide what has been described as a ‘touchdown zone’ for other States staff when they are working in the west of the island.

Part of a wider strategy to provide a number of out-of-town workstations across the island, these work spaces are intended tohelp create a more “agile, mobile workforce” in line with Charlie Parker’s ‘One Government’ plans. The space could also be used for meetings between prisoners and health professionals.

Pictured: What the prison is expected to look like after the transformation.

Plans for the prison upgrade were originally to be kept under wraps over security fears, but Planning agreed that there was a “wider responsibility on the [Planning] department to publish whatever we can, which is of a low security risk".

Although specific details of the new development have not been made public, the project, which has been described as a "high priority for the Prison service", involves substantial alterations to the prison’s main vehicle entrance and the demolition of four wings.  

The construction costs of £6.5million will be met from the Criminal Offences Confiscation Fund.

A report explained that one of the key aims of the proposed new gatehouse was making the prison a less daunting building by reducing the “intimidating frontage”.  “The proposal seeks to present a more positive frontage to the prison, rather than a bland institutionalised boundary,” it read.

Pictured: Initial design options for the prison featured the Newgate Prison arches. (HMP La Moye/IBI Group)

An initial plan to incorporate a granite arch into the design, using materials from the Newgate Street prison demolished in the 1970s, was abandoned as being impractical.