On its closure in 1970, the RAF base was briefly converted into a transit camp for Ugandan refugees.

Moors Murderer Myra Hindley had been imprisoned there for almost five years before she died in West Suffolk Hospital on 15 November 2002, having been hospitalised as a result of a heart attack at Highpoint.

[1] Another home brew was involved in riots that occurred less than a year later, when inmates crafted a liquor from Marmite and fruit juice.

[citation needed] The Category C men's prison has an education department, and work opportunities for inmates in Data Input, Contract Cleaning, Gardens/Horticulture, and Catering.

There is also a Prison Visitor Centre which is operated by the Ormiston Children and Families Trust.