aldington | open prison
23|10|05

Derelict prisons are scarce in the UK. With historical examples either tarted up as museums or converted to housing, and the modern replacements overcrowded to the point of bursting, finding a derelict prison is rare indeed.

However, Laura B tracked down Aldington Prison, a small prison hidden in a Kent valley and subject to a planning row. As locals, councillors and government finally concluded that it shouldn’t be converted to an immigrants' reception centre, and the original plan of knocking the whole thing down was probably correct, we took advantage of the years of dithering, and crept through the main gates.