HMP Whitemoor opened in 1991 as part of the high security estate. The main establishment now supports two regimes: a mainstream prisoner population and a population with personality disorders. Most prisoners are younger than those in other maximum security prisons and prisoners who are vulnerable because of their offence are not generally held. One wing is specifically designated to manage prisoners with personality disorders. A close supervision centre (CSC), which opened in October 2004, is part of a centrally managed national strategy administered by the directorate of high security at Prison Service Headquarters. It aims to provide the most dangerous, disturbed and disruptive prisoners with a more controlled environment to help them develop a more settled and acceptable pattern of behaviour.
Accommodation
- A wing – main residential units. One A wing spur is designated as the psychologically informed planning environment (PIPE).
- B wings – main residential units.
- Fens unit – a therapeutic unit holding up to 70 prisoners with personality disorders, working in partnership with Cambridge and Peterborough Foundation Trust to deliver one-to-one and group therapy.
- Segregation unit – 18 cells.
- E wing/Bridge unit – 12 cells, a reintegration wing for prisoners leaving the segregation unit.
- Health care unit – nine bed spaces.
- F wing – the close supervision centre (CSC)