Living near a prison

[Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain]

So my boyfriend is working in construction near a prison (Pentonville). We’ve been out a few times near there and walked past houses that were opposite the side wall of the prison. The area seems a bit student residences and maybe council flats opposite.

Anyway, would you live near a prison or not? If not why not? Would it be cheaper to live here?

the only other prisons I’ve seen are Wandsworth (a bit bleak area), and Brixton, ok part of Brixton not the nicest part.

Why would it be an issue? They are all locked up.

Yes but my boyfriend when I asked him if he’d live there he said no. Gave no reasons.

I guess occasionally some may escape.

I used to live super close to Pentonville (not backing onto it though). Wasn’t a problem whatsoever.

Used to live near the Scrubs in London, many years ago. Wasn't the nicest area of west London, but not because of the prison.

I think if any inmates do escape, they don't hang about around the prison, they try and get as far away from it as they can.

Mind you, I wouldn't want to live near one - it's some of the visitors that would concern me!

I’d figure if anyone wanted to escape, they’d be out of that area as soon as they could!

It wouldn’t bother me in that sense; prisons tend not to be pleasant to look at though

i think somewhere like Pentonville people are so desperate to buy in London they’ll accept a prison especially if the property is more affordable

My friend lived in one of those type houses next to a prison in Lincolnshire. It was originally for staff, but sold off. Never had any noise or problems there.

I’m sure if someone escaped they’d run a bit further than the house next door…!

Well the prices around Wandsworth prison are pretty high still & there have been escapees.

I used to live near an open prison and my x worked there. Never had any issues whatsoever. Occasionally you could hear them playing football and shouting if the wind was blowing a certain way.

Plenty of absconders while I was there, but as someone else said, they aren't going to hang around near the prison. They legged it to the nearest town

Yes my friend did say they got strange people occasionally wandering around in the lane, but they were just trying to find the train station half a mile away. TBH it sounded like they were more scared of the dark/countryside anyway!

20 years ago I rented briefly in the village next to Broadmoor. They had a siren if there were any absconders. I never heard it. Does anyone know if they still do this?

I work in a high security prison
The neighbours hate us and have stopped us driving through their nice posh village
When a prisoner is released , they sometimes hang around the area , they want to go to the pub , they sometimes shoplift from the local shops , they beg for money for transport or drugs or alcohol.
Their visitors sometimes get lost and ask frequently how to get to the prison - they are seen as undesirables .
There can be more undesirables hanging around trying to throw or drone illicit items like drugs , cigs , phones over the walls , usually in tennis balls , dead birds or drones themselves, they’ve been seen hiding in gardens to do so , that doesn’t go down well either .
The local public transport is often not respected with drivers being abused , buses littered and locals being targeted unfortunately also.
Only had one escape in 25 years but no , it’s not great for the house price .

There's two near where I used to live and as someone else mentioned, it's the visitors who cause the problems. Cars were constantly pulling up and people getting out and throwing packages with goodness knows what in (probably drugs) over the fence. It was these people who caused issues rather than the actual prisoners themselves. Some neighbours challenged them and reported them to the police but they were threatened with violence. We never worried about prisoners escaping because, as others have said, they probably wouldn't hang around the local area, they'd want to get as far away as possible.

The local Irish pub is cheap. Often wonder if it’s the first place inmates go to on release.

That’s not nice. I’ve not seen undesirables there, just normal people to be fair. Lots of students in accommodation. Otherwise it’s quite boring Starbucks, small ssinsburys, Costa, lots of indy restaurants and cafes. There’s a nice garden centre nearby and Cally Pool just down the road.

Heh. I'm reading this while on the bus, right outside Pentonville prison. No-one getting off the bus looked dodgy.

My best friend lived 100 yards away until recently. No issues at all.

@Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain Not the same prison but yes I agree , it’s not that exciting . 😉

Going by the area right next to our prison in our city, yes I would live there

Kicking myself for not taking a photo to prove it. But we're at Caledonian road station now. Too late

Yeah and they are going to get away as far as possible. They aren’t going to hang about the local area!

Actually what was funny was a few weeks ago we were walking along the street and a woman with a small yappy dog the dog suddenly started loudly barking (at a dog over the road) and it made me jump as it was so loud and sudden. Apart from a student fight the other day it’s been very quiet whenever I’ve been.

There are two stations the tube and the national rail one.

It wouldn't bother me. I probably wouldn't want to be directly facing it as they tend to be ugly buildings with barbed wire etc but I wouldn't mind being nearby.