page_title: HM Prison Manchester
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: HM Prison Manchester / History
caption_attribution_description: formerly known as strangeways
context_page_description: HM Prison Manchester is a high-security men's prison in Manchester, England, operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service. It is still commonly referred to as Strangeways, which was its former official name derived from the area in which it is located, until it was rebuilt following a major riot in 1990.
  It is a local prison, holding prisoners remanded into custody from courts in the Manchester area and Category A prisoners.
  Strangeways was designed by Alfred Waterhouse and opened in 1868 alongside the demolished Manchester Assize Courts. The prison is known for its prominent ventilation tower and imposing design, structured by the principles of the separate system.
context_section_description: Construction of the Grade II listed prison was completed in 1869, and it was opened on 25 June 1868, to replace the New Bailey Prison in Salford, which closed in 1868. The prison, designed by Alfred Waterhouse in 1862 with input from Joshua Jebb, cost £170,000, and had a capacity of 1,000 inmates. Its 234 feet (71 m) ventilation tower (often mistaken for a watchtower) has become a local landmark. The prison's walls, which are rumoured to be 16 feet thick, are said to be impenetrable from either inside or out.
  The prison has an element of the separate system with its plan in the form of a star or a snowflake, with two blocks housing ten wings that emanate from a central core where the ventilation tower is situated. The prison consists of two radial blocks branching from the central core with a total of ten wings (A, B, C, D, E, F  in one block, and  G, H, I, K in the second).
  The jail was built on the grounds of Strangeways Park and Gardens, from which it was named. Strangeways was recorded in 1322 as Strangwas from the Anglo-Saxon Strang and gewæsc meaning "[a place by] a stream with a strong current".
  The prison was open to male and female prisoners until 1963 when the facility became male-only, and in 1980 it began to accept remand prisoners. As of 2005 the prison held more than 1,200 inmates.
caption: Strangeways ventilation tower
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