HM Prison Northeye

H.M. Prison Northeye was a prison located at Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex, England which was in operation from 1969 to 1992.

HMP Northeye
Coordinates50°50′52″N 000°24′32″E
Security classCategory C training prison
Opened1969
Closed1992
CityBexhill-on-Sea
CountyEast Sussex
CountryEngland

The prison was formerly the site of a Royal Air Force Mobile Radio Unit which housed reserve equipment for the Chain Home radar station at Pevensey. It subsequently became a radar station itself, but was decommissioned in 1964. It was subsequently opened as a Category C training prison in January 1969.[1]

Prison disturbances

It was one of the prisons which participated in the prison strike organised by Preservation of the Rights of Prisoners in 1972.[2]

In 1986, 40% of the prison was destroyed when 60 of the 450 inmates rioted in response to being locked in their cells for 23 hours a day during a Prison Officers' overtime ban.[3]

The site was then used as a military training camp by the UAE.

In May 2022, a local councillor said he had been told that the site "been sold to house immigrants".[4] Whilst the sale was dismissed as misinformation at the time the Land Registry shows that it was bought by Brockwell Group Bexhill LLP in August 2022.

In March 2023, the Government announced that it planned to use the site to house asylum seekers.[5] A campaign group has been set up by local residents to oppose the camp. <ref>https://notonortheye.org/

A local resident, Jeff Newnham, realised that protesting alone would not stop the scheme from happening, so he decided to launch a legal challenge to the Home Office and set up a crowdfunding platform to fund it. Such was the strength of feeling amongst Bexhill residents that the initial crowdfunding target was smashed in only two days.

References
  1. "Detailed Result: HMP NORTHEYE". Pastscape. Retrieved 2017-06-20.
  2. Fitzgerald, Mike (1976). Prisoners in revolt: the origin and development of Preservation of the Rights of Prisoners (PROP), the British Prisoners Union. Leicester: University of Leicester.
  3. "Prisoners Riot at Jails In Britain and 50 Escape". The New York Times. 1 May 1986. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
  4. "Connor Winter - Independent Candidate for St Marks Ward". Facebook. Retrieved 2023-04-20.
  5. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65107827
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