World Prisons
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United Kingdom

HM Prison Shepton Mallet

Low
Verified 29 May 2026
Fresh · 0d ago

Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date.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

How to send mail, money, and visit HM Prison Shepton Mallet

Step-by-step guidance using the United Kingdom system — addresses, money services, visit booking, what to bring on your first visit.

Open toolkit
Photograph of HM Prison Shepton Mallet

Gallery

From Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-SA where not otherwise stated).

  • HM Prison Shepton Mallet 01.jpg

    Photo by Rodw via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

  • HM Prison Shepton Mallet 02.jpg

    Photo by Rodw via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

  • HM Prison Shepton Mallet 03.jpg

    Photo by Rodw via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

  • HM Prison Shepton Mallet 04.jpg

    Photo by Rodw via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

  • HM Prison Shepton Mallet 05.jpg

    Photo by Rodw via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

  • HM Prison Shepton Mallet 06.jpg

    Photo by Rodw via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

  • HM Prison Shepton Mallet 07.jpg

    Photo by Rodw via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

  • HM Prison Shepton Mallet 08.jpg

    Photo by Rodw via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Background

HMP Shepton Mallet, sometimes known as Cornhill, is a former prison in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, England. When it closed in 2013, it had been the United Kingdom's oldest operating prison, following the closure of HMP Lancaster Castle in 2011. Before closure, Shepton Mallet was a category C lifer prison holding 189 prisoners. The prison building is Grade II* listed, while the former gatehouse and perimeter walls are Grade II. The prison was opened before 1625 but was already in poor repair by the end of the First English Civil War in 1646. It was expanded in 1790 but conditions were again criticised in a report of 1822 and further building work was undertaken in the 1820s and 1830s.

Source: Wikipedia article lead, CC-BY-SA.

Capacity

Current population

Occupancy

Year opened

1625

Operational

Facility profile

Operator

Population held

Mixed/unknown

Opened

1625

Region

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

Conditions Risk Score

Derived signal — not a judgement. How it's calculated

Insufficient data
We don't have enough public data on this facility to score it. Have something to add? Send us a correction.

Data completeness

20%

How many of our profile fields are populated. We surface this so families and researchers know the limits.

Sources