Hull Prison, built in Hedon Road in 1865, succeeding a previous prison in Kingston Street, and opened in 1870, is of a typical
Victorian design. Ethel Major was the last person and only woman to be executed at Hull in 1934. She had been convicted of the murder of her husband. The Prison suffered bomb damage during the
Second World War Hull Blitz. with an estimated repair cost of £3 – £4 million. The prison was closed for a year while repairs were carried out. Disciplinary proceedings following the riots led to a number of legal challenges. The Prison was removed from the high-security estate in 1985 and became a local prison holding inmates remanded and sentenced by courts in the area. In April 2014 the Ministry of Justice announced that these would be brought back into use as the "prison population is currently above published projections". After
rioting at Birmingham Prison in December 2016, some prisoners were transferred from Birmingham to Hull. Disturbances were reported at HMP Hull. On 14 September 2018, Staff at HMP Hull, along with many other prisons across the country, walked out under protest due to health and safety conditions across the prison estate. The protest was amid fears of rising violence, wanting safety improvements and a reduction in violence and overcrowding. In January 2019, it was announced that HMP Hull will be one of 10 prisons chosen for body scanners which aims to reduce drugs and violence, while improving standards, in the country's most challenging jails providing a template for the wider estate. In January 2021, it was reported that HMP Hull had been dealing with a huge
COVID-19 outbreak which saw around 80 prisoners and staff struck down by the virus. ==The prison today==