The name "Scrubs" refers to scrubland while Wormwood — Artemisia absinthium — is a grey-foliaged sub-shrub, common on wasteland, which was traditionally used as a herb for the treatment of parasitic worms.

The initial steps in the winter of 1874 involved the construction of a small prison made of corrugated iron and a temporary shed to serve as a barracks for the warders.

[2] The prison housed a number of conscientious objectors in the First World War, one of whom, the Quaker journalist Hubert W. Peet, wrote about the conditions there in 112 Days' Hard Labour (1917).

In April 1920 Irish Republican prisoners demanded political status, when denied they began a hunger strike which led to their eventual release.

During the strike large crowds supporting the Irish hunger strikers gathered outside of the prison and were attacked by local residents with more than 70 injuries reported.

The inspectors also stated that there had been a failure to put into place recommendations by the prisons and probation ombudsman to deal with suicide and self-harm.

The chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, a charitable body, said "I have never seen a public service deteriorate so rapidly and so profoundly.

[12][14] Chief Inspector Peter Clarke described "an extremely concerning picture" including, "intractable failings" continuing since earlier inspections from 2014.

[15] On 30 August 2018 prisoner Winston Augustine committed suicide in the segregation unit after spending two days locked in a showerless cell with no food and without the tramadol prescribed for kidney stones that caused him pain.

[17] Another inspection, in 2021, reported that improvements had been maintained and there were reductions in the levels of violence, though this was partly because many prisoners were locked in their cells for most of the day.