HM Prison Finnamore Wood

[1] In 1948 the camp was used to house members of the American Canoe team who used Marlow Rowing Club as a training base for their Olympic Rowers.

When the camp closed in 1996, all inmates were transferred to Huntercombe YOI near Henley on Thames, which is still operational as a prison.

David Wilson (criminologist) was the Assistant Governor at Finnamore Wood Borstal between 1986 and 1988 and is now Professor Emeritus of Criminology at Birmingham City University.

[citation needed] Inmates were introduced back into the community from Finnamore Wood, where many used to have jobs in the local towns and farms.

The camp consisted of an Educational Institute offering social skills courses along with a computer lab, classes in cooking in the camps Dining Hall and Kitchens, and the site also concentrated on sports recreation, with a remedial gymnasium/sports hall and a large playing field.

The guards contacted the local Police to attend and quell the riot as the wardens feared the situation could have erupted further.

Rioting in the prison was minimal and the security was fairly relaxed compared to the life behind bars that inmates would have previously experienced.

Before the prison closed, some plans to enlarge the capacity of HMYOI Finnamore Wood to enable it to accommodate adult inmates were being discussed.

The site was secured with high wooden hoarding along with signs erected stating Guard Dogs and Barbed Wire being present on the inside.