taking our culture forward

In 1885, the Chairman of the Commissioners for Prisons in England and Wales recommended that a new prison should be built on the Isle of Man for 30 prisoners, to replace the prison at Castle Rushen. A site was chosen at Victoria Road, Douglas, and the prison was designed by Manx architect James Cowle. The building was in use from April 1891, with 21 cells in the male and 8 cells in the female prison. As the population of the Island rose, so did the population of the prison: two new wings were subsequently opened in June 1989. ‘C’ wing was opened as a Detention Centre to house Young Prisoners between the ages of 17-21, changing later to house solely male adult prisoners. D wing was the female wing, which housed 11 females before the closure of the prison. The photographs below were taken in April 2007, before detainees were relocated to the new prison in Jurby.

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