Minister backs public tours of Shrewsbury Dana prison
Justice Secretary Chris Grayling has backed plans to open up Shropshire's Dana prison for public tours, MP Daniel Kawczynski said today.
The Shrewsbury MP said Mr Grayling had given his 'verbal approval' to plans to allow guided tours of the jail – to be officially decommissioned on Thursday.
He said: "The Justice Secretary said he saw no problem in opening up the prison for tours and we are in discussions with him about setting it up."
Mr Kawczynski said members of the public had expressed a lot of interest in visiting the 220-year-old jail.
He said he hoped any future public tours would raise cash for charities related to the prison service, such as the Samaritans, which ran a listeners' service for vulnerable inmates at Shrewsbury prison for more than 20 years.
He said: "If this goes ahead we want to run the tours on a temporary basis and raise money for the welfare of prison officers and the Samaritans."
Tears flowed last week as hundreds of prison officers and other workers – including Independent Monitoring Board chairman Carol Byng – said their final goodbyes to the prison in Castlefields during a full staff parade organised by prison governor Gerry Hendry.
There were tears from some members of staff as they listened to speeches and reflected on the historic day.
Staff gathered in the prison's A Wing in the morning before marching out together where they were greeted by dozens of onlookers who applauded them out.
Ms Byng said she was sad to see the prison close.
"It had been rumoured for so many years, people thought it would never happen so it was a shock," she said.
"It is like a family here – some of the prisoners were in tears when they left."
Mr Hendry will hand the keys over to the Ministry of Justice on Thursday when the site is officially decommissioned.
In January the Ministry of Justice announced Shrewsbury's prison was one of seven across the country to close in a bid to save £63 million a year in running costs.
While some have taken up posts at other prisons in the region, many have opted to take voluntary redundancy and retire.
Today, Mr Kawczynski praised the 'superb' work of prison staff at the Dana over the years.
He said: "The prison has closed because it is so much more expensive to run than others in the country but over the years the prison staff have been superb."
Over the weekend, the Dana was open by invitation only to family members of staff for tours. Two cells were left open for visitors to view.
