Spring Hill

Springhill House has had a long and varied past, starting in 1872 as a family home, becoming a wartime base for first MI6- the Secret Service and then the Special Operations Executive (SOE) in 1941. After the war, Springhill had a multiplicity of uses, and became the first Open Prison in the country in 1953.

HMP Spring Hill is jointly managed with HMP Grendon (situated next door) and despite sharing a number of common services Springhill and Grendon operate as separate units and exist for vastly different purposes.

Spring Hill is a category D Open Prison with a resettlement regime. Its purpose is to prepare prisoners for release by addressing, accommodation, employment, vocational training and offending behaviour needs. Through OASys sentence planning prisoners are encouraged and supported to train and prepare for their release. The regime, with its working out programme, is primarily set up to support the needs of longer term prisoners within the last few years of their sentence. However the needs of short term prisoners are also met through short term vocational courses run in the prison.

Address:

HMP Spring Hill

Grendon Underwood

Nr. Aylesbury

Buckinghamshire

HP18 0TL

Tel: 01296 445000

Fax: 01296 445001

Governor: Dr Peter Bennett

Accommodation: Huts, Ready to Use (RTU's) and Mobile Temporary Units (MTU's). All rooms have in-cell television and electrics.

Operational Capacity: 334 as of 5th April 2005

Reception Criteria: The prison accepts recommended and confirmed Category D prisoners' prior to transfer. It does not accept Schedule 1 offenders, sex offenders, and arsonists. We do accept prisoners with deportation orders providing they have a robust risk assessment & support from the immigration service. Prisoners must have a minimum of at least 5 months to serve on arrival at Spring Hill. Applications for life sentence prisoners are dealt with through the lifer liaison officer.