United Kingdom · City of Westminster
Coldbath Fields Prison
Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date. Always verify with primary sources before acting on any figure. See data sources.
For families
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Gallery
From Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-SA where not otherwise stated).
Photo by From Henry Mayhew's "London Labour and the London Poor", 1851. via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Photo by Unknown authorUnknown author via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)
Photo by Print made by: John Harris the Younger After: Robert Abraham via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Photo by Unknown via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)
Background
Coldbath Fields Prison, also formerly known as the Middlesex House of Correction and Clerkenwell Gaol and informally known as the Steel, was a prison in the Mount Pleasant area of Clerkenwell, London. Founded in the reign of James I (1603â1625) it was completely rebuilt in 1794 and extended in 1850. It housed prisoners on short sentences of up to two years. Blocks emerged to segregate felons, misdemeanants and vagrants. The prison closed in 1885.
Source: Wikipedia article lead, CC-BY-SA.
Capacity
—
Current population
—
Occupancy
—
Year opened
1794
Operational
Figures from official sources · verified 29 May 2026 · methodology
Facility profile
Operator
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Population held
Mixed/unknown
Opened
1794
Region
City of Westminster
Security level
—
Death-row facility
No
Conditions
No conditions summary available yet.
Visiting
No visiting information available.
Mailing
No mailing information available.
Practical info
Contact the operator's website for inmate-specific procedures.
Known issues
No major issues documented in our database.
Contact & address
No public contact details available.
Conditions Risk Score
Derived signal — not a judgement. How it's calculated
Related facilities
Same country, matched on type + security level where possible.
- HMP WandsworthLondonHighLocal159% occupancy
- HMP FranklandDurhamMaximumLocal100% occupancy
- HMP BarlinnieGlasgowHighLocal147% occupancy
- HMP Cookham WoodKentHighLocal
- HMP PentonvilleLondonHighYOI137% occupancy
- HMP StyalWilmslowHighClosed female
Data completeness
16%How many of our profile fields are populated. We surface this so families and researchers know the limits.
Sources
- Wikipedia — Wikimedia Foundation
- Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation
- Wikidata (Q7828322)
- Wikipedia
- Wikimedia Commons
- See /data-sources for our overall methodology.
Cite this page
Under CC-BY-4.0. Include the URL and access date; the site is a living reference and entries can change.
World Prisons. (2026). Coldbath Fields Prison. Retrieved October 20, 2026, from https://worldprisons.com/prisons/coldbath-fields-prison
"Coldbath Fields Prison." World Prisons. Accessed October 20, 2026. https://worldprisons.com/prisons/coldbath-fields-prison.
@misc{worldprisons-coldbath-fields-prison,
author = {{World Prisons}},
title = {Coldbath Fields Prison},
year = {2026},
url = {https://worldprisons.com/prisons/coldbath-fields-prison},
urldate = {2026-10-20}
}