HM Prison Styal is a Closed Category prison for female adults and young offenders in Styal, Cheshire, England. The prison is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service.
History The prison occupies former buildings of the Styal Cottage Homes which opened as an orphanage for destitute children from the Manchester area in 1898. It closed in 1956 and the site re-opened as a women's prison in 1962, with women transferred from HMP Manchester.
From 1983 Styal began holding young offenders, and in 1999 a wing was added to accommodate unsentenced female prisoners following the closure of Risley's remand centre. This increased the size of the prison by 60%.
In 2003, Styal Prison was singled out as having one of the worst records for suicides in England and Wales. The Howard League for Penal Reform called for an independent inquiry into the jail, stating that bullying, drugs and overcrowding were probable causes for the high number of deaths.
In 2004, an inspection report from Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons stated that inmates at Styal Prison were being put at risk by a lack of support during drug withdrawal and with mental health problems. The report also expressed concern about the use of special cells to hold disruptive prisoners, including self-harmers. However, the report did praise the prison's staff–prisoner relations, education provision and resettlement services. The Chief Inspector also said that race relations at Styal were "among the best" she had seen.
An inspection report in 2018 found that the incidence of self-harm was high, but noted that it mainly occurred in a small number of women. The report was positive and particularly praised the prison's strategies for resettling inmates in the community on release. An average of 1.3 deaths from all causes occurred per year in inmates of the prison between 2000 and 2018.
In 2020, a woman serving an eight-month sentence gave birth to a stillborn baby in the prison toilets. Despite having alerted prison staff several times, it took several hours for the woman to receive medical attention, the prison radio system failed when an attempt was finally made to call an ambulance, and no attempts to perform CPR on the baby were made. If the prisoner had received proper medical attention, the baby might have been saved. In 2021, the prison was placed under investigation by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman.
Deaths Since 2001, at least 35 women have died at HMP Styal:
Date Name Age Cause of death 5 April 2001Donna Borg34Natural causes10 August 2002Nissa Ann Smith20Suicide26 November 2002Anna Baker29Suicide18 January 2003Sarah Campbell18Suicide20 April 2003Jolene Willis 24Suicide4 June 2003Hayley Williams41Suicide12 August 2003Julie Walsh39Accidental drug overdose10 May 2006Valerie Hayes42Suicide19 January 2008Lisa Marley32Suicide28 April 2008Liana White42Natural causes7 May 2008Kirsty Davies32Natural causes8 January 2009Alison Jane Colk36Suicide4 December 2009Denise Williams53Natural causes 21 March 2010Sally Palmer42Natural causes27 April 2011Pamela Bleakeley28Natural causes8 March 2014Maureen Wood67Natural causes29 April 2014Anita Berry50Natural causes5 June 2014Bridget Purcell45Natural causes 23 October 2016 Celeste Craig 26 Suicide 4 February 2018 Nicola Birchall 41 Respiratory disease 4 June 2018 Imogen Mellor 29 Suicide 3 March 2019 Christine MacDonald 56 Suicide 10 May 2019 Susan Knowles 48 Suicide 16 April 2020Shareen Akhtar41Respiratory failure 22 December 2020Annelise Sanderson18Suicide 2 July 2022 Eileen McDonagh 25 Suicide 31 July 2022 Rebecca Parkinson 43 Cardiac arrest 1 August 2023Rachel Tunstill 32Breast cancer 15 December 2023Laura Parry59Unknown21 December 2023Sarah Jackson46Unknown20 July 2024Sarah Boyle35Suicide24 December 2024Alex Davies25Suicide27 January 2025Lorna Carter58Heart failure9 March 2025Stephanie Brennan38SuicideOctober 26 2025Lisa Clarke53Unknown
The prison today Styal is a closed prison for sentenced and remanded female adults and young offenders. There are also facilities for mothers with babies up to age 18 months.
The education provision at Styal is contracted out to The Manchester College. Courses offered include hairdressing, information technology, art and design, ESOL, catering, industrial cleaning, painting & decorating, and Open University support.
Other facilities at HMP Styal include a library, gym and multi-faith chaplaincy.
A visitors centre is available, run by Contact Cheshire Support Group with play area and refreshments. In the main visits hall, facilities include a tea bar and a children's play area (also run by Contact Cheshire Support Group).
There is a restaurant, called Clink, in what was the chapel. This is open to the public and offers training in hospitality and catering to inmates.https://www.clinkcharity.org
In popular culture The prison was featured in the BBC2 documentary Women on the Edge – the Truth about Styal Prison on 27 February 2006.
Notable inmates Notable people currently imprisoned or who were imprisoned at HMP Styal include: Lauren Jeska, transgender fell-runner convicted of the attempted murder of Ralph Knibbs Farzana Ahmed, mother of Shafilea Ahmed, who she murdered in 2003. Sentenced to a minimum of 25 years imprisonment in 2012 Savannah Brockhill, woman who abused and murdered her female partner's 16-month-old child, Star Hobson. Her case was widely publicised in 2021, shortly after the similarly high-profile child murder of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes by Emma Tustin. Brockhill was sentenced to a minimum of 25 years imprisonment. Sarah Williams, given a 25-year minimum sentence in 2016 for the murder of a woman with her friend Katrina Walsh Corina Smith, was sentenced to life in prison for killing her husband with a boiling mixture of water and sugar after she was told he had sexually assaulted her two children. She will serve a minimum of 12 years at HMP Styal before she can be considered for parole. Mary Bell, stayed from November 1973 to June 1976. She and another girl, Norma Joyce Bell (no relation), had murdered two young boys. Reportedly, Bell resented her transferral to this facility, and while incarcerated at HM Prison Styal, Bell unsuccessfully applied for parole. Amanda O'Shaughnessy sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 14 years for the murder, by stabbing, of her boyfriend David Butterworth.https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/my-brother-joked-shell-probably-33510236?int_source=nba
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