Inside 'Britain's cushiest jail' as it's ranked among the worst in the country: How G4S-run £253m super prison of HMP Five Wells calls inmates 'residents', has student-hall style rooms with en-suites - and there are no bars on windows By Iwan Stone Published: 09:07 EDT, 23 August 2024 | Updated: 09:10 EDT, 23 August 2024 e-mail View comments A prison dubbed Britain's cushiest jail has been ranked among the worst in the country, as it was slammed by inspectors who said it was of 'serious concern'. HMP Five Wells - which is also known as 'HMP Woke' - cost £253 million and was claimed to be a super prison when the Northamptonshire facility was opened in 2022. Prisoners enjoyed the luxury of student-hall style rooms with en-suites, were called 'residents' and didn't even have bars on their windows at the 1,700-capacity category C prison.
They had aimed to revolutionise the penal system with a new approach where every lag was given a tablet computer, was given access to workshops including hairdressing and bike repair, and where the governer - or 'director' - aimed to know each of them on first name terms. But reality came crashing down after an inspectorate report ranked them the lowest possible grade for security - and placed them alongside notorious Pentonville, Bristol and Wandsworth in the lowest bracket of jails across the country. In the January inspection, the prison was blasted for having inexperienced staff who were not enforcing behaviour, high levels of self harm and.