HM Prison Dartmoor is located in Princetown, high on Dartmoor in the English county of Devon. Its high granite walls dominate this area of the moor. It is easily distinguished at night by its bright red light. The prison is owned by the Duchy Of Cornwall. Her Majestys Prison Service is the British Executive Agency reporting to the Home Office tasked with managing most of the prisons within England and Wales (Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own Prison Services). ... Princetown is a town situated on Dartmoor in the county of Devon in England. ... High Willhays, the highest point on Dartmoor and southern England at 621 m (2037 ft) above sea level, with Yes Tor beyond. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... A county is generally a sub-unit of regional self-government within a sovereign jurisdiction. ... Part of the seafront of Torquay, south Devon, at high tide Devon is a large county in South West England, bordered by Cornwall to the west, and Dorset and Somerset to the east. ... Close-up of granite from Yosemite National Park, valley of the Merced River Quarrying granite for the Mormon Temple, Utah Territory. ... Moorland in the Pennines (England); Coarse grasses and bracken tend to dominate especially in high rainfall areas. ...

Constructed originally between 1806 and 1809 by local labour, to hold prisoners of the Napoleonic Wars, it was also used to hold American prisoners from the War of 1812. Although the war ended with the Treaty of Ghent in December 1814, many American prisoners of war still remained in Dartmoor. On April 6, 1815, 7 of them were killed and 31 wounded when guards opened fire at the behest of the allegedly drunk British officer in charge, who thought that they were attempting to escape. A memorial to the 271 POWs (mostly seamen) who are buried in the prison grounds has been erected. 1806 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Year 1809 (MDCCCIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar). ... Combatants Austria[1] Portugal Prussia[1] Russia[2] Sicily  Spain[3]  Sweden United Kingdom[4] French Empire Holland Italy Naples [5] Duchy of Warsaw Bavaria[6] Saxony[7] Denmark-Norway [8] Commanders Archduke Charles Prince Schwarzenberg Karl Mack von Leiberich Gebhard von Blücher Duke of Brunswick â€  Prince of Hohenlohe... This article is about the U.S. – U.K. war. ... Signing of the Treaty of Ghent. ... Geneva Convention definition A prisoner of war (POW) is a soldier, sailor, airman, or marine who is imprisoned by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict. ... is the 96th day of the year (97th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... April 5-12: Mount Tambora explodes, changing climate. ... Geneva Convention definition A prisoner of war (POW) is a soldier, sailor, airman, or marine who is imprisoned by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict. ... USN redirects here. ...

Dartmoor Prison was reopened in 1851 as a civilian prison, and has contained some of Britain's most serious offenders ever since. It has a misplaced reputation for being escape-proof. These days it has lost its high-security status and houses mostly white-collar criminals. 1851 (MDCCCLI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Within the field of criminology, white-collar crime or incorporated governance has been defined by Edwin Sutherland ...as a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation. ...

There is a small museum of prison life, which is open to the public at some times of the year.

There is also a yearly charity 'Dartmoor Jailbreak', where civilians (not prisoners) 'escape' from the prison and must travel as far as possible in 4 days, whilst in convict clothing and without directly paying for transport [1].

Dartmoor Mutiny

On January 24th 1932, there was a major disturbance at the prison. The cause of the riots is generally attributed to the food, not generally but just on specific days when it was suspected it had been tampered with prior to the disturbance.^[1] There had also been other instances of disobedience prior to this, according to the official Du Parcq report into the incident such as a model prisoner attacking a popular guard with a razor blade and rough treatment of a prisoner being removed to solitary.^[2] At the parade later that day, 50 prisoners refused orders, and the rest were marched back to their cells but refused to enter. At this point, the prison governor and his staff fled to an unused part of the prison and secured themselves in there. The prisoners then released those held in solitary. There was extensive damage to property, but no prison staff were injured, although a prisoner was shot by one of the staff.^[3]. According to Fitzgerald (1977) "Reinforcements arrived, and within fifteen minutes these 'vicious brutes', who for some two hours had terrorized well-armed prison staff, and effectively controlled the prison, had surrendered and been locked up again".^[4]

References

1. ^ Fitzgerald, M. (1977) Prisoners In Revolt, Harmonsworth: Penguin pg.123
2. ^ Fitzgerald, M. (1977) Prisoners In Revolt, Harmonsworth: Penguin pg.124
3. ^ Fitzgerald, M. (1977) Prisoners In Revolt, Harmonsworth: Penguin pg.124-5
4. ^ Fitzgerald, M. (1977) Prisoners In Revolt, Harmonsworth: Penguin pg.126