pentonville prison visit rules

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Hmp pentonville.

Inside Time Reports
13th December 2014
Greater London , Male Local , Male YOI , Prison Visit

Prison information

Address: HMP PENTONVILLE Caledonian Road, London, N7 8TT

Switchboard: 01772 444550 Managed by: HMPS Region: London Category: Male Local Link to: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/pentonville-prison

Description

Pentonville is a men’s prison and young offender institution in the London Borough of Islington, North London.

Visit Booking: On-line

Use this online service to book a social visit to a prisoner in England or Wales you need the:

prisoner number
prisoner’s date of birth
dates of birth for all visitors coming with you

The prisoner must add you to their visitor list before you can book a visit.

You’ll get an email confirming your visit. It takes 1 to 3 days.

ID: Every visit

Acceptable forms of ID

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Pentonville launches leadership in rehabilitative cultures course, ian wright visits pentonville, the inspector calls, pentonville neurodiversity unit set to open, mailbites – april 2022, ‘i had a big desire to keep myself fit’ , appallingly unappealing , bumbling along, a matter of life & death, women on my mind , something missing or outdated.

If you have any information that you would like to be included or see anything that needs updating, contact Gary Bultitude at [email protected]

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Crime, justice and the law
Prisons and probation

Visit someone in prison

Use this service to request a social visit to a prisoner in England or Wales. There’s a different way to book a prison visit in Northern Ireland or a prison visit in Scotland .

To use this service you need the:

prisoner number
prisoner’s date of birth
dates of birth for all visitors coming with you

If you do not have the prisoner’s location or prisoner number, use the ‘Find a prisoner’ service .

You can choose up to 3 dates and times you prefer. The prison will email you to confirm when you can visit.

The prisoner must add you to their visitor list before you can request a visit. This can take up to 2 weeks.

Request a prison visit

Visits you cannot book through this service.

Contact the prison directly if you need to arrange any of the following:

legal visits, for example legal professionals discussing the prisoner’s case
reception visits, for example the first visit to the prisoner within 72 hours of being admitted
double visits, for example visiting for 2 hours instead of 1
family day visits - special family events that the prison organises

Help with the costs of prison visits

You may be able to get help with the cost of prison visits if you’re getting certain benefits or have a health certificate.

Help us improve GOV.UK

Don’t include personal or financial information like your National Insurance number or credit card details.

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Pentonville Prison Information

Accommodation: The prison provides multiple residential units with individual cells or shared accommodation for inmates. The cells are equipped with basic amenities, including beds, personal storage, and sanitation facilities.
Education and Vocational Training: Pentonville Prison places a strong emphasis on education and vocational training. Inmates have access to a range of educational programs, including basic education, literacy, numeracy, and accredited courses. Vocational training opportunities are also available to develop employable skills and enhance prospects for successful reintegration into society.
Work Opportunities: Inmates at Pentonville Prison have access to various work activities within the prison, such as maintenance, cleaning, kitchen, and other designated roles. These work activities aim to develop skills, instill discipline, and promote a sense of responsibility.
Healthcare: Pentonville Prison has an on-site healthcare unit staffed with medical professionals who provide primary healthcare services to prisoners. Mental health support, substance abuse programs, and specialized medical care are also available.
Family Contact: The prison recognizes the importance of maintaining family relationships and facilitates visits and contact with family members, subject to specific guidelines and regulations.
Resettlement Support: Pentonville Prison offers pre-release planning and support to help inmates prepare for their eventual release. This may include assistance with accommodation, employment, and access to community-based support services.

Contact Information

Booking a visit to pentonville prison.

Monday: 1:45pm to 2:40pm and 3:20pm to 4:15pm
Tuesday: 1:45pm to 2:40pm and 3:20pm to 4:15pm
Wednesday: 1:45pm to 2:40pm and 3:20pm to 4:15pm
Thursday: 1:45pm to 2:40pm and 3:20pm to 4:15pm
Friday: 1:45pm to 2:40pm and 3:20pm to 4:15pm
Saturday: 10:30am to 11:30am and 3pm to 4pm
Sunday: Enhanced Visit only 2:30pm to 4:30pm (in-house booking only by prisoner)

Unlimited Prison Phone Calls Package

Valid Passport
Valid Photographic
Driving Licence (full or provisional)
Citizen Card
Senior Citizens Bus Pass Travel Card (issued by Scottish Government)
Utility bill
Council tax bill
Benefit book
Bank statement
other letter from official source

Pentonville Prison

Tel:020 7023 7000 – Caledonian Road, London N7 8TT

HMP Pentonville is one of London’s better known prisons and has been operational since 1842. The establishment has a capacity of 1,310 and is a category B / C men’s prison, holding only adults. Although called HMP Pentonville, the prison is actually located in the Borough of Islington in London. It officially opened in 1842.

We looked into the history of HMP Pentonville and found out some interesting facts, Did you know it was the UK’s first modern prison?

If you’re planning on visiting the prison and you’d like to find out how to get there, you can use the map on this page.

Tel: 020 7023 7000

Operational capacity: 1310

Caledonian Road, London N7 8TT

Prison Phone have been saving inmates at HMP Pentonville money on their calls from the prison to any UK mobile phone since 2013.

We do this by allocating a dedicated and secure local number to your mobile phone, this means when the inmate at Pentonville prison calls the new local number we have provided they will be charged at just the local landline rate (around 10p per minute) rather than the standard mobile rate (which is around 40p per minute).

This in turn helps to stretch the inmates PINS phone credit further and reduces the amount you need to send in for them to top up!

Send me Pentonville prison details via FREE SMS

Mobile number:

Here’s some facts about Pentonville Prison

HMP Pentonville is a category B / C men’s prison in the Barnsbury area of London. Opened in 1842, the prison has capacity to hold 1,310 inmates.

The prison is made up of the wings A, C, D, E, F, G, J and Health care. A wing is the first night and induction unit. C, D and G wings hold the general population. E1 wing is the segregation unit. E2 – E5 wings are integrated drug treatment system (IDTS) maintenance and treatment units, and F1 – F4 wings are IDTS stabilisation units. F5 wing is the vulnerable prisoner unit. Health centre is a 22-bed inpatient unit, and J wing is a drug-free recovery wing.

Oscar Wilde , Irish writer, spent time here in 1895 for a few months, before being moved to HMP Wandsworth. He was sentenced to two years for homosexual behaviour (1895 – 1897)

To view the latest HMIP inspection report, click here .

Visiting hours are 09:15 – 10:50 Mon-Wed & Sat, 14:15 ; 15:50 Mon-Sat, and 14:00 – 15:50 Sun.

Drones carrying drugs and mobile phones were found to be flying INSIDE the prison through broken windows. Only a quarter of the windows that are smashed are replaced (181 out of 580)

When the prison first opened, inmates were not allowed to speak to each other. During their exercise, they were forced to wear cloth masks over their heads.

Two female officers were sexually assualted by inmates, according to a watchdog report from the 28 th July 2017.

Prison Phone offers phone tariffs that reduce the costs of calls from this prison by up to 75%! This enables prisoners to get the support and love that they are missing from home, while reducing costs for the inmate. Find out more below.

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The first modern prison opened in London in 1816 - the new Millbank prison. It had separate cells for 860 prisoners and proved satisfactory, to the authorities at least, thus commencing a programme of prison building to deal with the rapid increase in prisoner numbers occasioned by the ending of capital punishment for many crimes and a steady reduction in the use of transportation.

Two Acts of Parliament were passed allowing for the building of Pentonville prison for the detention of convicts sentenced to imprisonment or awaiting transportation. Construction started on the 10th of April 1840 and was completed in the autumn of 1842. The total cost to build the new prison was £84,186 12s 2d. It was designed in accordance with Jeremy Bentham's "panopticon" design consisting of a central hall, with four radiating wings, the length of which are visible to staff positioned at the centre plus a chapel forming a fifth wing. See picture . Pentonville was originally designed to hold 520 prisoners under the "separate system," each having his own cell, 13 feet long, 7 feet wide and 9 feet high. Conditions were vastly better and healthier than at Newgate and similar older prisons and each prisoner was made to undertake work, such as picking coir (tarred rope) and weaving. See picture of weaving cell. The strange cartwheel like constructions between the wings were the exercise areas which also operated under the separate system. Pentonville became the model for British and colonial prisons and a further 54 were built to the same basic design over the next six years. The cost of keeping a prisoner at Pentonville was about 15s. (75p) a week in the 1840's. A additional 220 cells were added to B & C Wings in 1867 and a third story added to all four wings in 1871. Over the years many further modifications and extensions have been made.

Prisoners under sentence of death were not housed at Pentonville until the closure of Newgate in 1902 when it took over responsibility for executions for London and Middlesex. Condemned cells were added and an execution shed built to house Newgate's gallows which were transferred to it.

The gallows at Pentonville. Pentonville's first execution facility originally consisted of a purpose built shed adjoining B Wing. Execution sheds became the norm in most British prisons, after the abolition of public hanging in 1868, and typically had the trapdoors installed over a 12 feet deep brick lined pit, as drops of up to 10 feet could be given. They were often used as a garage for the prison van when not required for executions. In 1926 work began on a new condemned suite, to save the prisoner having to walk the 25 yards to the gallows, a new execution facility was provided within the prison, comprising a stack of three rooms in A wing. The top most room contained the beam from which up to three 2" link chains could be suspended, for attachment of the rope(s) which hung down through floor hatches. The beam and the adjusters for the chain can be seen on this plan . The suite was completed in 1928. See plan . The first floor room, painted a pale green, contained the lever and trapdoors and the basement room acted as the "pit" into which the prisoner dropped. See plan . Adjacent to this room was the mortuary room where post mortems were carried out. According to Prison Commission records the condemned suite was further modernised in April 1937. Albert Pierrepoint described the trap in 1931 as having two leaves, each some 8 feet 6 inches long by 2 feet 6 inches wide, with rubber backed spring clips to catch them when they were released. Also on the first floor were the two condemned cells separated from the execution chamber by an ante room or lobby and from each other by a “sanitary lobby”. See plan. It was just 20 feet from No. 1 condemned cell to the gallows.

A teaching prison for hangmen. People who successfully applied to be added to the Home Office list of executioners attended a one week course at Pentonville where they were taught how to calculate and set the drop, pinion the prisoner and carry out an execution with speed and efficiency using a dummy in place of the prisoner. Albert Pierrepoint described this training in some detail in his autobiography. The prison engineer was responsible for training new recruits and after they had had their medical and interview with the governor, he took them straight to the execution chamber where he showed them round and explained the equipment. On the second morning, Albert and another trainee met "Old Bill" who was the dummy used in place of a prisoner. They practised hooding and noosing "Old Bill," getting the eyelet of the noose in the right place and learning the system of humane hanging. This is "draw on the white cap, adjust the noose, whip out the safety pin, push the lever, drop." They repeated the process over and over until they became proficient and fast. The next task was to learn to calculate the correct drop from the Home Office tables. They were taught how to set the drop for differing weights of prisoners by adjusting the length of the chain (the British rope was a standard length) and shown how to carry out double executions. These involved getting the prisoner in Condemned Cell 1 onto the drop and prepared before the prisoner in Condemned Cell 2 is led out. Lots of other factors were discussed, e.g. what to do with a prisoner who had earlier attempted suicide by cutting their throat (not uncommon) or with a person who only had one leg or arm. At the end of the week, they were given a final test, consisting of a full dummy execution. The last training course was run in the week commencing Monday 25th April 1960, for Samuel Plant and John Underhill, both of whom were successful and remained on the list of assistant executioners until abolition. Execution boxes and the gallows beam, where required, were sent from Pentonville to those prisons that did not have permanent facilities. The boxes contained two nooses, pinioning straps and white hood plus other ancillary equipment.

Hangmen at Pentonville. The first seven executions were carried out by William Billington with John Billington doing the next one, before handing it over to Henry Pierrepoint who officiated at the next seven. John Ellis carried out the next six, interrupted by Tom Pierrepoint with the next two, before resuming for a further 17. William Willis hanged Frederick Bywaters as Ellis was busy at Holloway with Edith Thompson. After Ellis resigned, the baton was handed on to Robert Baxter for the next 24 executions. Tom Pierrepoint did a further four hangings, two in 1937, one in 1941 and one in 1943 (Charles Koopman), while Alfred Allen carried out his sole execution here, that of Frederick Murphy in August 1937. Stanley Cross was to hang the first three spies at Pentonville (see below). After that, Albert Pierrepoint took over and with the exception of the one execution carried out by his uncle, had a virtual monopoly until 1954. He executed 42 men between 1941 and 1954 and carried out his first hanging as "No. 1" at Pentonville when he executed Antonio Mancini on Friday, the 31st of October 1941.

Executions at Pentonville. One hundred and twenty men were to be hanged at Pentonville between 1902 and 1961, an average of two per year. Of these, 105 suffered for civilian murders, seven for Prisoner of War murders, one for treason and seven for spying during wartime. Pentonville carried out, by a margin of three, the most 20th century British executions. Its total represents 14.7% of 20th century English and Welsh hangings for murder. The distribution of executions is quite patchy. The war years were particularly busy with 25 executions between July 1940 and December 1945. In other years, e.g. 1906 - 1908, 1914 & 1915 and 1938 - 1939, there were none.

Here are a selection of some of the more interesting cases: John Macdonald became the first to be hanged at Pentonville, on the 30th of September 1902 for the murder of Henry Groves, whom he had stabbed to death in a dispute over 5 shillings (25p). He was executed by William Billington.

One of the most famous cases to end at Pentonville was that of 48 year old Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen, who had murdered his domineering wife, American born Cora Turner (stage name Belle Elmore). The murder took place at Crippen's house at 39 Hilldrop Crescent in London on or about the 1st of February 1910. The marriage was not a happy one and she belittled him at every turn. Eventually Crippen, who was having an affair with his secretary, Ethel Le Neve, unable to stand her behaviour any longer, poisoned her with Hyoscine and then dismembered the body and buried it in the cellar. After being interviewed by the police over the disappearance of Belle, Crippen and Ethel Le Neve decided to leave the country. They went first to Antwerp in Belgium where they boarded the steamship SS Montrose bound for Canada. Ethel shared Crippen's cabin and masqueraded as his son. Captain Kendall, the skipper of the Montrose, recognised Crippen from a newspaper photograph and sent a ship to shore telegraph from the Montrose to its owners who alerted Scotland Yard. This was the first time a ship to shore telegraph had been used in a criminal case. Inspector Drew of the Yard took a passage on the faster steamship, the SS Laurentic, and was able to catch up with the Montrose in Canadian waters. He boarded the Montrose from the pilot's launch on July 31st, 1911 and arrested Crippen and Le Neve. This drama on the high seas filled the newspapers of the time and together with the sinister sounding name of the prime suspect, made it the "crime of the century" during that summer in the press. Crippen came to trial at the Old Bailey on the 18th of October before Lord Alverstone, the then Lord Chief Justice. The trial ended on the 22nd of October with the jury taking less than 30 minutes to convict Crippen who was inevitably sentenced to death. A clandestine photo of him in the dock was taken and this has appeared in many books, (it was then and still is, illegal to photograph a prisoner in the dock). Crippen was returned to Pentonville to await his appointment with the hangman. His last request, which was allowed, was to have a photo of Ethel Le Neve in his top pocket when he was hanged at 9.00 a.m. on the dark and foggy morning of Wednesday, the 23rd of November 1911 by John Ellis. He was 5' 4" tall and weighed 136 lbs. so Ellis gave him a drop of 7' 9" inches. In his memoirs, Ellis recalls that Crippen smiled as he walked towards him. A large crowd had gathered outside the prison to see the execution notice posted. Ethel Le Neve was charged with being an accessory to the murder but was acquitted at her trial.

Frederick Henry Sedden (also given as Seddon) was a 40 year old poisoner who was hanged by John Ellis on the 18th of April 1912 for the murder of Eliza Mary Barrow. Again, John Ellis was the executioner. Sedden was 5' 3" tall and also weighed 136 lbs and was given a drop of 7' 1". Approaching the gallows in the execution shed in the prison yard, Sedden was somewhat unnerved by the site of the noose and the sudden sounding of a loud horn of a tourist coach passing the prison. Ellis was afraid he was going to faint and got the execution over as quickly as he could - in just 25 seconds, a record at that time. Sedden had persuaded the wealthy Mrs. Barrow to sign over her several properties to him in return for an annuity for the rest of her life. Obviously the longer Mrs. Barrow then lived the more it would cost Sedden. She was only 50 at the time so potentially could have lived for many more years. The prosecution at his Old Bailey trial in March 1912 contended that Sedden had administered arsenic to her for this reason. The jury took an hour to find him guilty although he maintained his innocence until the end.

Sir Roger Casement is unusual in that he was hanged for treason. His execution took place on Thursday, the 3rd of August 1916 and was again carried out by John Ellis. Casement was Irish by birth but held a British passport. Soon after the outbreak of World War I, he moved from Ireland to Germany living in Berlin for 18 months and attempting to enlist the support of Germany in the Irish struggle for independence from Britain . Germany sent arms to Ireland for use in the Easter uprising of 1916, but they were obsolete weapons and largely useless so Casement sent a message to the Irish rebels which was intercepted by the British. On April 20th, 1916, Casement returned to Ireland on board a German submarine and was quickly arrested and taken to London. He was charged with treason for having conspired with Britain's enemies in time of war. His trial opened at the Old Bailey on the 26th of June 1916, and he was convicted 3 days later. Prior to execution, he was stripped of his knighthood. As was normal after the hanging, he was buried within Pentonville but in 1965 the prime minister, Harold Wilson, acceded to a request from the Irish for his body to be exhumed and returned there for burial in accordance with Casement's wishes. Private Theodore William John Schurch was the other man hanged at Pentonville for treason on the 4th of January 1946. Schurch, had been found guilty of treason by a General Court Martial convened at the Duke of York's Regiment Head Quarters in Chelsea London in September 1945.

One of the youngest men to suffer at Pentonville was Henry Julius Jacoby who was just 18. He was hanged by Ellis on Wednesday, the 7th of June 1922 for the murder of 66 year old Lady Alice White for whom he had battered to death in her hotel room in the course of trying to rob her. Jacoby worked as pantry boy in the hotel and quickly confessed to the murder. He was tried at the Old Bailey on the 28th of April 1922, the jury making a recommendation to mercy, as they were not convinced that the lad had intended to kill but rather that he did so in panic when Lady White woke to find him in her bedroom and screamed. Ellis recalls that Jacoby seemed completely unconcerned about his impending fate and was playing a makeshift game of cricket with one of the warders in the exercise yard on the afternoon before, when Ellis went too have a look at him. After Ellis had pinioned his wrists in the condemned cell, Jacoby made a point of thanking the governor and waiting prison officers for their kindness to him in Pentonville. He went on to the execution shed and was described by Ellis as the calmest person there. Jacoby was one of four teenage boys to be hanged here. The others were 18 year old Arthur Henry Bishop on Friday, the14th of August 1925, 19 year old John Frederick Stockwell on Wednesday, the14th of November 1934 and 19 year old William Henry Turner on Wednesday, the 24th of March 1943. Forty (33.3%) of the men who were executed were under 25 at the time of their crime. Things did not always go so smoothly as in the Jacoby case. John Ellis, assisted by Albert Lumb, hanged two murderers on Tuesday, the 17th of October 1911 , both of whom fainted as they stood side by side on the trap and had to be supported by warders. They were 40 year old Fransisco Godhino and 41 year old Edward Hill who had been sentenced for completely unrelated murders. Double hangings of unrelated criminals were still quite common at this time.

On the 9th of January 1923, Frederick Edward Bywaters was led to the gallows by William Willis for stabbing to death his lover's husband, Percy Thomson. To the very last, he protested Edith Thompson 's innocence. At the same moment, less than a mile away, she was being hanged at Holloway for her part in the crime. Click here for more details of this famous case which became a cause celebré.

A similar double execution was to take place on the 31st of May 1928 when Frederick Guy Browne was hanged at Pentonville while his accomplice William Henry Kennedy was being executed at Wandsworth prison. Browne and Kennedy both had criminal records and in the early hours of the 27th of September 1927, were driving together in a stolen car in Essex. Police constable George Gutteridge spotted them and signalled them to stop. Gutteridge questioned them and was not satisfied with the answers they were giving him. He took out his pocket book to record the events and as he did so, Browne fired two shots at him from the driver's seat. These shots did not kill the constable who staggered backwards and fell in the road. Browne got out of the car telling Kennedy, "I'll finish the bugger" and standing over PC Gutteridge, fired a shot into each of his eyes. Browne and Kennedy drove off to London leaving PC Gutteridge dead in the road still holding his pencil. It was a crime that appalled the nation at the time and made headline news. The police questioned all those known to carry guns and in due course got to Browne, who was arrested in January 1928, still in possession of the revolver that had been used to murder PC Gutteridge. Kennedy was arrested in Liverpool five days later for car theft, after trying to shoot the arresting officer. Kennedy admitted being with Browne in the stolen car but insisted that Browne had done the shooting and that he could do nothing to intervene as he was scared of Browne. Browne's defence was that he was at home on the night of the murder and this was born out by his wife and landlady. However, the Old Bailey jury convicted them both of being jointly responsible for the murder, and Mr. Justice Avery sentenced them to death on the 27th of April. Browne was hanged by Robert Baxter while Kennedy was executed by Thomas Pierrepoint. Double executions, where the prisoners stood side by side on the same gallows, were becoming less frequent in the UK .

During World War II, Pentonville prison was closed to ordinary prisoners but continued to house condemned inmates. Six spies were hanged at Pentonville under the provisions of Section 1 of the Treachery Act 1940. They were Carl Meier, José Waldburg, Charles Albert Van Der Kieboom, Oswald John Job, Pierre Richard Charles Neukermans and Joseph Jan Vanhove. José Waldburg was German while Carl Meier and Charles Van Der Kieboom were Dutchmen, all of whom had landed on the South Coast and were caught almost immediately in possession of a short wave radio transmitter and a quantity of pound notes. They had intended to pose as refugees and feed information back to Germany on military installations and troop movements. They were tried "in camera" at the Old Bailey on the 22nd of November 1940 before Mr. Justice Wrottesley, sitting with a conventional 12 person jury but without representatives of the press and public, who were excluded from the trial in case sensitive information leaked out. All three were convicted and sentenced to hang. Waldburg and Meier were hanged by Thomas Pierrepoint on Tuesday, the 10th of December 1940 and Kieboom a week later on the 17th by Stanley Cross, having had his appeal dismissed. It is not known whether the first two were hanged side by side or at hour and a half intervals.

Oswald Job was born to German parents in London and at 59, was the oldest of the six. He had moved to France before the war but was interned in 1940 due to his country of origin. He made friends with his German guards and was recruited by German intelligence who moved him to Spain from where he was able to get back to London. The British Postal Censorship service noticed a frequent exchange of letters between the Job family and Job's former friends in the internment camp. However, Job's relatives when interviewed, denied ever sending the letters or knowing the inmates in the internment camp. When security personnel visited Job, they found espionage equipment and he was therefore arrested, coming to trial at Old Bailey in January 1944 and being hanged on the 16th of March of that year.

Pierre Richard Charles Neukermans was a Belgian who had been recruited by German intelligence. He obtained legal access to Britain as a refugee but was sending information on ship movements between Britain and the Belgian Congo to the S.S. officer who had helped him "escape" from Nazi occupied Belgium. He was tried in April/May 1944 and had his appeal dismissed on the 8th of June. He was hanged by Albert Pierrepoint on the 23rd of June 1944.

Joseph Jan Vanhove was also Belgium and may have been set up as a double agent. He was arrested on entry into the country in February 1943 and under interrogation admitted he was intending to work as a German agent. In those sensitive times, this was enough to send him to the gallows and he too was hanged by Albert Pierrepoint on Wednesday, the 12th of July 1944. Unusually, five young prisoners of war were hanged at Pentonville on Saturday, the 6th of October 1945 . They were Joachim Goltz, Kurt Zühlsdorff, Heinz Brüling (correct name Heinrich-Wernhard Brüning), Erich Palme-König and Josef Mertens. All five were in their early 20’s. They had been convicted of the murder of Sergeant Major Wolfgang Rosterg on Saturday, the 23rd of December 1944, who they had beaten and hanged within their prisoner of war camp as they suspected that he had given them away to the authorities for attempting to escape. While they admitted that they had killed Rosterg, they viewed the killing as the execution of a traitor (presumably why they hanged him) rather than murder. They were tried at Kensington Palace Gardens before a military tribunal and quickly convicted. On the 23rd of July the sentences were confirmed by the Judge Advocate General. Albert Pierrepoint, assisted by Steve Wade and Harry Allen, carried out the executions. It is unclear from surviving records whether there were two double hangings and a single or whether there were five single executions. They started at 9 am., and the notices of execution were posted on the prison gate at 10.30 am., so the former scenario seems more likely. These executions were carried out under military jurisdiction, with Lieut-Col. F. Forbes, the Deputy Provost Marshal for London District taking the place of the under-sheriff and signing the notice of execution. Army chaplains took the place of the prison chaplain. A further two men were to be hanged for a similar offence the following month after trial by court martial at Kensington Palace Gardens . They were Armin Kuehne (18) and Emil Schmittendorf (31) who were executed by Albert Pierrepoint on Friday, the 16th of November for battering to death Gerhardt Rettig in a PoW. camp near Sheffield because they believed he had betrayed them over an escape plan.

As execution facilities at county prisons closed some counties, e.g. Essex , transferred their executions to Pentonville. Two hangings were carried out by Albert Pierrepoint on Friday, the 21st of December 1945 . The first, at 8.00 a.m., was that of John Riley Young. Forty year old Young had been convicted of the brutal murder of Frederick and Cissie Lucas whom he had battered to death in the course of robbing them. He tried to commit suicide and was arrested in hospital where he immediately confessed to the crime. The second execution took place an hour and a half later when Sgt. James McNicol went to the gallows for the murder of a fellow sergeant at the anti-aircraft battery at Thorpe Bay near Southend in Essex . In a highly intoxicated state exacerbated by malaria medication, 30 year old McNichol had fired a rifle, which he had "borrowed" from the armoury, into the sergeant's hut after an altercation with Sgt. Leonard Cox over a young woman whom McNichol fancied and who was dancing with another on the day after VJ Day (the 16th of August 1945) at a celebration dance to mark Britain's victory. The shots, however, killed his best friend Sgt. Donald Kirkaldie and only injured Sgt. Cox. McNichol was arrested the following day having slept off the alcohol, completely unaware that he had killed his best mate. He offered no resistance and cooperated fully with the police, giving an open and truthful statement. The trial took place at the Essex Assizes in Chelmsford before Mr. Justice Lewis on November 7th, 1945 and lasted for two days. Mr. Tristram Beresford, defending McNichol, invited the jury to bring in a verdict of manslaughter on the grounds that James was too drunk to form any intention of killing anyone. (To be guilty of murder, the prosecution must prove that the prisoner actually intended to kill the victim.) This they rejected and he was therefore sentenced to death. His appeal, on the grounds of his inability to form the intent to kill due to being drunk, was rejected on December 19th. Having studied the original case papers in detail, I think there is good reason to agree with his defence counsel that the proper verdict should have been one of manslaughter rather than murder.

Twenty eight year old Neville George Clevelly Heath murdered two women, his girlfriend Margery Gardner, aged 32, and 21 year old Doreen Marshall, both in the summer of 1946. Heath had previous convictions and had been court-martialled three times while serving in the forces during the war. Margery Gardner enjoyed masochistic sex and Heath was a sadist so there was an obvious bond. They acted out their fantasies in the Pembridge Court Hotel in London's Notting Hill Gate where Heath tied Margery up and whipped her with a diamond weave pattern leather whip. He had also bitten her breasts and inserted an object into her vagina causing heavy bleeding, all before suffocating her, probably to stifle her screams on the evening of Friday, the 21st of June. Her body was discovered in Room 4 of the hotel by staff the following morning. Heath had left the hotel and went to stay with his fiancée, Yvonne Symonds, in Worthing in Sussex. Heath told Yvonne about the murder in the hotel and said that Margery had gone to the hotel with a man named Jack and that he had let them use his room. He also said that he had seen the body, although he did not tell her that he had been in any way involved in the killing. After leaving her, he wrote a letter to Scotland Yard telling them the same story. Passing himself off as Group Captain Rupert Brooke, he met his second victim, Doreen Marshall, at a dance in Bournemouth at the beginning of July 1946. He invited her to dinner at his hotel and later murdered her. Again, her breasts were savagely bitten and a sharp object had been thrust into her vagina. He hid her naked body in bushes and covered it over with her clothes. The hotel manager asked him to contact the police who were looking for Yvonne (as a missing person) and he went voluntarily to Bournemouth police station for an interview, where the sharp eyed detective noticed his strong resemblance to the photograph of Neville Heath wanted in connection with Margery Gardner's murder. He was duly arrested and charged with her murder and later with Doreen Marshall’s murder as well. He was tried at the Old Bailey before Mr. Justice Morris on the 24th of September 1946 and put forward a defence of insanity which was rejected. Three weeks later, on Wednesday, the 16th of October, he kept his 9.00 a.m. appointment with Albert Pierrepoint. His last request was for a large whiskey.

Timothy John Evans and John Reginald Halliday Christie. To the Old Bailey jury on that January afternoon in 1950, it must have seemed like an open and shut case of a rather pathetic little man who had murdered his baby daughter, Geraldine (the crime for which they were trying him), and who had apparently confessed to the killing of his wife as well. There appeared to be a strong prosecution case and he was duly found guilty and sentenced to death, his execution taking place on Thursday, the 9th of March 1950. It was one of those cases which would have faded almost instantly from the public memory were it not to be for the gruesome discovery of more bodies at Evan's erstwhile home, 10 Rillington Place, three years later.

The Evans had sublet their rooms at Rillington Place from John Christie, an insignificant little man, bald and bespectacled, who was nicknamed "Reggie no dick" by local children. He had a criminal record stretching back some years. Christie murdered at least seven women. His victims were Ruth Fuerst in 1943, Muriel Eady in 1944, Beryl Evans (Timothy's wife) in 1949, Ethel Christie (Christie's own wife) in 1952, Kathleen Maloney in 1953, Rita Nelson and Hectorina MacLennan, also in 1953. Most of these women he had lured to the house and then had gassed and strangled them. It is thought he indulged in sex acts with them after he had rendered them unconscious, before burying or hiding their bodies around the house and garden. In early 1953, with the house somewhat crowded with dead bodies, Christie decided to move and sublet the property to a Mr. and Mrs. Reilly who quickly noticed a foul smell in the kitchen. When the owner investigated it, he discovered three of the women's bodies hidden in an alcove off the kitchen which had been wallpapered over. As one can imagine, this discovery made headline news. Christie had left his lodgings and was wandering the streets before being apprehended on London's embankment on March 31st, 1953. Under questioning, Christie admitted to the murders of everyone except Geraldine Evans and seemed to be working on the theory of "the more the merrier," probably in the hope of being found guilty but insane. Christie would not, however, admit to killing the baby despite repeated questioning and only admitted killing its mother after sometime in custody. He came to trial at the Old Bailey on June 22nd, 1953 before Mr. Justice Finnemore and his counsel offered the expected defence of insanity. The jury took just under an hour and a half to reject this and reach a guilty verdict after a three day trial. Three weeks later, Christie stood under the same beam as Evans had done and at 9.00 a.m. on the morning of Wednesday, the 15th of July 1953, was also to be hanged by Albert Pierrepoint as Evans had been. The Home Office allowed for the re-burial of Timothy Evans' body in consecrated ground at St. Patrick’s Cemetary in London in late 1965 and he was granted a posthumous pardon on the 18th of October 1966 , as Christie had given evidence against him and had admitted killing Beryl. However, controversy still continues as to whether Evans killed either his wife or daughter or both. Professor Keith Simpson, the famous forensic pathologist who was involved in the cases, did not believe that Evans was innocent of both crimes. The film and book both entitled “ 10 Rillington Place ” provide a valuable insight into the killings. Evan's case was another important one in the ending of capital punishment in Britain , along with those of Ruth Ellis and Derek Bentley .

Britain’s last double (side by side) hanging took place at Pentonville on Thursday, the 17th of June 1954, when 22 year old Kenneth Gilbert and 24 year old Ian Grant were executed by Albert Pierrepoint (assisted by Royston Rickard, Harry Smith and Joe Broadbent) for the murder of 55 year old George Smart in the course of a robbery. George Smart was the hotel night porter at Aban Court Hotel in Kensington and on the night of Tuesday, the 9th of March, caught these two young men breaking into the hotel. They attacked him and then tied him up and gagged him, ultimately causing his death by asphyxia. They blamed each other at the trial and assured the jury that they had not intended to kill Mr. Smart. The jury were not impressed with this argument and neither was Lord Goddard when he dismissed their subsequent appeal. They had stolen just £2 and a quantity of cigarettes – hardly worth dying for! Double hangings were outlawed by the Homicide Act of 1957.

Twenty one year old Edwin Albert Arthur Bush became the last man to hang at Pentonville on the 6th of July 1961 when he was executed by Harry Allen, assisted by John Underhill , for the murder of shop assistant, Elsie Batten. He had battered and stabbed her to death in order to steal a sword from the antiques shop where she worked. A half cast Indian, Bush sought to use racism as a defence to killing Elsie, whom he said had made racist remarks to him causing him to lose his temper and lash out at her. The Old Bailey jury were unimpressed with this. Under the terms of the Homicide Act of 1957, murder in the course of theft was a capital crime.

HMP Pentonville remains in use as a major London prison to this day.

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Restricted regimes undermine rehabilitation of Pentonville prisoners

In spite of the Justice Secretary’s stated aim of giving prisoners ‘a better shot at rehabilitation’, this is far from the reality at Pentonville prison, says the Independent Monitoring Board in its 2021-22 annual report, released today.

The Board found that the impact of Covid-19 continued to negatively impact prisoners’ wellbeing and opportunities for rehabilitation. Three-quarters of the prisoners at Pentonville were awaiting trial or sentencing, many without any sense of when or how their time in the criminal justice system would progress. During this time opportunities for meaningful activity and mental health support were limited. Many prisoners will leave Pentonville without having addressed the behaviour that landed them there in the first place, and no better equipped to lead a life away from crime.

In its annual report , the Pentonville IMB recognises that:

Prison staff, healthcare and management worked tirelessly to keep the prison as safe from infection as they could, including managing the biggest prison outbreak of Covid in the country;
Staff and volunteers made determined efforts to provide pastoral care to some of the most vulnerable prisoners in very difficult circumstances;
The launch of a well-run drug-free wing has allowed prisoners who are in recovery, or wish to avoid the drug culture, to have the best chance of doing so.
New regimes brought in to manage the safety of prisoners and staff during the pandemic have curtailed the opportunities for a choice of meaningful rehabilitative activity for the majority of prisoners;
Notwithstanding the continued very poor physical state of the prison the MOJ has required Pentonville to fill up its cramped cells – designed for one prisoner but almost all holding two – to pre-pandemic levels. This will result in still fewer places in education and workshops for prisoners to engage in purposeful activity to assist with their rehabilitation.

The chaotic and mismanaged offender management unit (OMU) also undermined the work of the staff and volunteers who deal with prisoners’ frustration face to face on landings and in clinics and classrooms. The OMU is the single place in the prison where all aspects of a prisoner’s sentence management come together. Papers and emails were not dealt with in a timely or correct fashion. Questions such as: ‘What is my release date?’ ‘Am I eligible for transfer?’ ‘Can I apply for HDC (an ankle tag)?’ were impossible to answer, with prisoners waiting weeks and sometimes even months for this information.

IMB Pentonville Chair, Alice Gotto, said:

“Pentonville prison and healthcare staff undoubtedly managed the ongoing pandemic well, but at a price. We received more calls to our prisoner helpline than any other prison. Prisoners told us they lacked basic but vital information about the legal and prison processes facing them, particularly in relation to sentence management, healthcare and property, and many were locked up for up to 23 hours a day. This is neither fair nor humane, and is far from being a rehabilitative environment.”

Judge in hush money trial threatens Trump with jail after holding him in contempt for violating gag order

The judge presiding over Donald Trump’s hush money case on Tuesday held the former president in criminal contempt over a series of posts on Truth Social that he said violated a gag order barring any attacks on jurors and witnesses and warned Trump he could be jailed for further violations.

Judge Juan Merchan ruled Trump in contempt for nine violations of his gag order, with a fine of $1,000 for each instance. He warned in the decision that he would not tolerate further violations of the order and said "if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances," he would impose "an incarceratory punishment" on the former president.

The judge explained that because the fines, which are limited by state law, were relatively little in comparison to Trump's wealth, they might be unlikely to deter the former president from abiding by the court's order. Merchan said that while he would prefer to impose commensurately larger fines, he instead had to consider "whether in some instances, jail may be a necessary punishment."

The gag order prohibits the former president from "making or directing others to make public statements about known or reasonably foreseeable witnesses concerning their potential participation in the investigation or in this criminal proceeding," and "public statements about any prospective juror or any juror."

Merchan said Tuesday that his order was "lawful and unambiguous" and that Trump violated it with social media posts about witnesses and public comments about jurors. He ordered Trump to remove seven of the posts at issue from his Truth Social account and two other offending posts from his campaign website by 2:15 p.m. Tuesday.

The judge also said in response to Trump's complaints about the comments of expected witnesses Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels have made outside court that he might consider modifying the gag order to remove them from its protections if he finds it necessary in the future.

Cohen said in a statement in response to the judge's decision that the small fine "is irrelevant. Judge Merchan’s decision elucidates that this behavior will not be tolerated and that no one is above the law.”

Merchan had indicated on April 23 that he was not impressed by the arguments from the defense, telling one of Trump's attorneys that he was “losing all credibility” when he suggested that Trump was exercising caution to comply with the gag order.

Prosecutors from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office had accused Trump of violating Merchan's April 1 order at least 10 times since it went into effect, including a post that called expected witnesses Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels "sleaze bags." Another appeared to be a quote from Fox News personality Jesse Watters that read, “They are catching undercover Liberal Activists lying to the Judge in order to get on the Trump Jury.”

The DA sought the maximum $1,000 fine for each post they considered a violation, along with an order that Trump remove the posts. Prosecutors had also asked Merchan to warn Trump that any future violations could be met with additional fines and up to 30 days in jail.

The possibility of Trump's imprisonment is likely to be seized upon by the former president's campaign and supporters — particularly as a fundraising tool. Already, Trump has sent a number of fundraising appeals connected to the trial and the consequences he may face. Last year, his mug shot after he was charged in Georgia over his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election sparked a fundraising bonanza for Trump.

Prosecutor Chris Conroy said during an April 23 morning hearing that Trump “seems to be angling” to be locked up for political purposes.

Trump’s legal team countered that the former president had not willfully violated the order and that he was simply responding to a “barrage of political attacks.”

Pressed by the judge, however, Trump attorney Todd Blanche had trouble identifying what attacks Trump was supposedly responding to. “I keep asking you over and over to give me an example, and I’m not getting an answer,” the judge said.

Trump attorney Emil Bove previously said that some of the posts were responses to remarks by Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer, and that others were reposted from people and news outlets, which he said did not violate the gag order. Merchan asked for case law to back that position, and Blanche said he did not have any. "It's just common sense, your Honor," Blanche said.

Merchan responded to that assertion in his decision Tuesday, saying he had found that "a repost, whether with or without commentary by the Defendant, is in fact a statement of the Defendant."

"The issue of 'reposting' appears to be a question of first impression," the judge wrote. "Lacking legal authority to guide its decision, this Court must, as defense counsel stated at the hearing, rely on common sense. ... Defendant curated the posts at issue and then took the necessary steps to publish the posts on his Truth Social account and on his campaign website. In doing so, he endorsed the posts with one purpose in mind — to maximize viewership and to communicate his stamp of approval.”

Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records related to his reimbursement to Cohen for the lawyer's hush money payment to Daniels in the closing days of the 2016 campaign. Daniels claims she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006, an allegation he denies.

Trump faces up to four years in prison if he’s convicted.

Zoë Richards is the evening politics reporter for NBC News.

Dareh Gregorian is a politics reporter for NBC News.

Matt Korade is a politics editor for NBC News.

DoingTime, a guide to prison and probation

IRP Pentonville

Inspectors visted Pentonville in Febriary 2020 on an IRP inspection. In the subsequent press release the inspectors said:

“Inspectors from HM Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP), revisiting HMP Pentonville to assess progress after a troubling inspection in 2019, found little evidence of positive improvement in a prison where violence had once again risen.

In 2019, inspectors reported poor outcomes in the healthy prison test of safety, and not sufficiently good outcomes in respect, purposeful activity and rehabilitation and release planning. Violence had increased significantly since an inspection in 2017. The response to investigations into self-inflicted deaths was inadequate and support for prisoners in crisis was poor. In 2019, nearly one third of prisoners were locked up during the working day.

At the time of the 2019 inspection HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, Peter Clarke, seriously considered invoking the rarely-used Urgent Notification (UN) procedure, under which the Secretary of State for Justice must respond publicly to HMIP’s findings within 28 days with plans for improvement. Mr Clarke decided not to follow this path “based on us having some confidence in the plans proposed by an enthusiastic new senior management team.”

A follow-up independent review of progress (IRP) to assess key concerns and recommendations from the 2019 inspection took place in February 2020.

Unfortunately, Mr Clarke said, the IRP findings “were a cause for continued concern.” Prison inspectors found the poorest progress in any IRP since the new type of follow-up visit was introduced in April 2019.

Ofsted inspectors who accompanied prison inspectors to follow up progress on their concerns relating to education, skills and work findings in 2019 found Pentonville managers had made reasonable progress against one of the themes but insufficient progress against the other two.

Mr Clarke added: “In terms of safety, until very recently there had been a lack of clear accountability at every level. Action planning to deliver the safety strategies that were now in place had been neither swift nor effective. Indeed, overall levels of violence had once again increased.” The report noted an overall increase in violence of 10%, with a 30% rise in assaults on staff. There were few incentives to motivate good behaviour, and too many adjudications – internal discipline procedures – for serious breaches of the rules were written off. “This failure to grip and manage key processes created a culture where violence and poor behaviour could all too easily go unpunished,” Mr Clarke said.

Scrutiny of the increasing use of force had only begun in earnest a few weeks before the IRP, and managers could assure neither themselves nor inspectors that all uses of force were justified. Care processes for those in crisis were found, again, not to be managed effectively and, Mr Clarke commented, “the implementation of recommendations from previous self-inflicted deaths could only be described as lacklustre.”

In contrast, the prison had made good progress in tackling its significant drug problem. Inspectors also observed some very good interactions between staff and prisoners during our visit, though some prisoners reported that staff could be rude and unhelpful. Pentonville was also cleaner and cell repairs and refurbishment were under way. Managers understood that boredom and inactivity contributed to bad behaviour, violence and poor well-being. Despite this, prisoners still spent far too long locked in their cells during the working day.

Ofsted inspectors found that a high number of prisoners allocated to education never started their courses, and a third of prisoners who did start their course did not complete it. Work to reduce reoffending and prepare prisoners for release was slow to progress and had not been prioritised.

Overall, Mr Clarke said:

“I was so concerned by the findings of this IRP that I wrote to the Secretary of State expressing my serious concern at the lack of progress. I was particularly disappointed to see that in many areas little or nothing had been done until very shortly before the IRP took place. I acknowledged that a change of leadership at the prison since the inspection had been problematic. I also made the point that lasting improvement would not be achieved through the simple expedient of reducing the prisoner population and giving more resources to the prison. The solution to most issues was in the gift of the prison, but would need a truly collaborative effort from all staff, clear leadership and support from HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS). Inspectors will return to Pentonville for a full, announced inspection in November 2020″

To read the full report follow the link below:

HMP Pentonville (401.79 kB) Report on an independent review of progress at HMP Pentonville (4–6 February 2020)

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