Yesterday 25 people from around the country descended on Ashford women's prison, still at the foundations-laying stage of construction. HMP Ashford is being built by a PFI (Private Finance Initiative) consortium under the umbrella of United Kingdom Detention Services (UKDS, comprising Sodexho Alliance S.A., Interserve plc (formerly Tilbury Douglas) and The Royal Bank of Scotland. Other parties to the deal include UK Detention Services (operator), Royal Bank of Scotland (funder), PricewaterhouseCoopers (financial adviser), Interserve Project Services (construction contractor), Willis (insurance adviser to the consortium), HM Prison Service and the Secretary of State.

If finished (it's exisitance is not yet, literally set in stone, and we can prevent it from ever coming into being),the new prison, to be called HMP Shortwood, will incarcerate 400 women and have 12 cells set aside for mothers and their children.

If finally finished, Ashfrod womens' prison (HMP Shortwood) will open in early 2005.

Activists climbed over a back fence and entered the site at around lunchtime, stopping all work on the site. There were large diggers and bulldozers on site as well as freshly cement poured foundations. Bricks, metal poles and other construction articles were thrown into the cement, locks and ignitions glued, keys to machinery 'lost', and the offices - all built into temporary 'blocks' near the front entrance, were entered and files 'lost', walls daubed and furniture and paperwork disrupted.

Banners reading 'You Build Your Own Cages' and 'WOMEN FIGHT PRISON' were hung from machinery. The group escaped after a significant amount of disruption had been caused, 3 people were however arrested for suspicion of criminal damage regarding 'No More Prisons' written on an office door. But were later released without charge.


Address of the site:

Just off Woodthorpe Road, Ashford, Middx. Nearest train station Ashford.