Wakefield Prison was originally built as a house of correction in 1594 and is now the largest maximum security prisons in Britain. The current building was built in Victorian times.

The prison stands in the town of Wakefield in West Yorkshire and is home to 600 of Britain's most dangerous men (mainly sex offenders and prisoners serving life sentences for violent crimes against women and children). Because of this the prison is popularly referred to by the tabloid press as "Monster Mansion". Wakefield Wakefield is a city in the county of West Yorkshire, England, south of Leeds, and by the River Calder. ...

Well-known prisoners currently being detained at the maximum security jail include:

Ian Huntley, Robert Maudsley, Roy Whiting, Mark Hobson, Robert Black Ian Kevin Huntley (born 31 January 1974 in Grimsby, England) is a former school caretaker, who in 2003 was convicted of murdering two schoolgirls - Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman - in a case that is known as the Soham murders. ... Robert Mawdsley is a British serial killer responsible for the murders of four people. ... Roy Whiting Roy Whiting was born in Horsham, West Sussex, on 26 January 1959. ... Mark Hobson, born 1969, is a British murderer who killed his ex-girlfriend and her twin sister in 2004 before killing an elderly couple who lived nearby. ... There are two referenced people named Robert Black: Robert Black (lawyer) , Professor Emeritus of Scots Law at the University of Edinburgh Robert Black (murderer), Scottish serial killer and paedophile See also Bob Black, American anarchist and lawyer This is a disambiguation page: a list of articles associated with the same...

Sidney Cooke, Ronald Jebson, Lee Gaytor, Antoni Imiela Sidney Cooke (also known as Hissing Sid) is a 78-year-old Englishman convicted and serving two life sentences for a string of rapes and sexual abuse against boys. ... Antoni Imiela is a convicted rapist from Appledore, Kent, England. ...

Britain's most prolific serial killer Harold Shipman committed suicide at Wakefield Prison in 2004 with his family accusing prison officers of a "cover-up" as Shipman was supposed to be on round-the-clock suicide watch. Harold Shipman Harold Frederick Shipman (14 January 1946 – 13 January 2004) was a British general practitioner who was the most prolific known serial killer in the history of Britain (and possibly the world). ...

Wakefield Prison runs sex-offender treatment courses in an attempt to help prisoners control their sexual urges upon release, but participation in these offending behaviour programmes is poor as most of the inmates deny or minimise their crimes.

Ironically, one of the senior prison officers at Wakefield, John David Hall, was himself convicted of kidnapping and raping 4 women and sentenced to life imprisonment in May 2006.

http://news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=748532006

Due to the serious nature of their crimes, it is unlikely that many of the prisoners serving life sentences for murder and serious sexual offences will ever be released by the Parole Board.