YEP Says (Feb 9): We would miss our menacing jail

IT'S A LANDMARK most of us would rather see from the outside than the inside, but HMP Leeds is important, nonetheless.

Leeds Prison – or Armley Jail – has been locking up our villains since 1847.

Armley Jail.placeholder image
Armley Jail.

And while we have prettier landmarks, the foreboding silhouette of Armley’s battlements are a part of our cityscape.

So the Prime Minister’s pledge to shut Victorian jails and bring custody into the 21st century has resonance in Leeds. Of course we would miss Armley Jail if it closed. And while we don’t often offer a thought for inmates, their families at least deserve to have them incarcerated close to home.

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