HMP Isle of Wight was created by an amalgamation of the three former establishments, Albany, Camp Hill, and Parkhurst.
Parkhurst Prison was built as a military hospital in 1805, then transformed to a prison for boys awaiting deportation, mainly to Australia, as part of the Parkhurst act of 1835.
By 1847 a new wing (C Wing) had been built by prisoners who actually dug the clay and baked the bricks. This wing is still in use today.
From 1863 to 1869 Parkhurst was a female prison. Parkhurst has served as a male prison since this time and became one of the first Dispersal Prisons in 1968.
It remained a high security prison until the mid nineties when in was converted to its current role. Parkhurst now caters for long-term and life sentence category B prisoners and the remands from the Isle of Wight courts. It is also the base for the catering and healthcare facilities that serve the three Isle of Wight prisons (Albany and Camphill as well as Parkhurst).

