THIS is Britain's "Paedo Alcatraz" prison home to Gary Glitter and 580 vile sex offenders - where lags can play giant chess and sit admiring a pond full of koi carp.
HMP The Verne has undergone a huge £3.3million refurbishment to create a cushy Category C jail for perverts.
Prisoners are allowed to walk freely around their wing 24 hours a day and can make TV and coffee in their cells using their own facilities.
The large gardens boast an astroturf football pitch for five-a-side kickabouts, a giant chess set for inmates to play on and an ornamental pond filled with foot-long expensive koi carp.
There is also a farm area where lags can grow flowers and look after ducks as they serve their prison sentence.
The Isle of Portland - five interesting facts
- The limestone-tied island may be home to the prison but is also a beauty spot that forms a central part of the Jurassic Coast.
- Portland Harbour, which lies between Portland and Weymouth, is one if the largest man-made harbours in the world and played a crucial role during the First and Second World Wars. The harbour - once a Royal Navy base - is now a civilian port and was used for the 2012 London Olympics.
- The island has featured in notable works of literature - including by Thomas Hardy who used it for the main setting of The Well Beloved and The Trumpet Major.
- It is well-known for its rabbits but they have been linked with bad luck and use of the name is still a taboo subject - with the creatures instead referred to as "long-eared furry things" or just "bunnies". It is believed the superstition was started by quarry workers who blamed rock falls and landslides on their burrows.
- The Isle of Portland is just four miles long by a mile and a half wide at its broadest point with a population of 12,400.
Prisoners at the cushy jail, on the Isle of Portland in Dorset, also have 20-inch flatscreen TVs and personal trainers who take them for fitness sessions in the prison gym.
It is understood there is also a sex offender treatment programme.
PAEDO PRISON
The Sun revealed in November how Glitter, real name Paul Gadd, had been moved to the luxury jail.
The singer was caged in 2015 for 16 years for sexually abusing three young girls between 1975 and 1980.
But the jail isn't all fun and games and Glitter was reportedly left in tears after being booed off stage during a karaoke session.
The Leader Of The Pack singer performed some of his biggest hits to fellow lags but they chanted "off, off, off" at him, Daily Star reports.
HMP The Verne was turned into an immigration removal centre in 2013 and ran until 2017 when it was converted back to a prison.
'LIKE A HOLIDAY CAMP'
It is now run as a Category C Training Prison for Men Convicted Of Sexual Offences.
The Ministry of Justice spent millions on renovating the lino flooring and repainting the doors to the individual cells in pastel shades of green, red, purple and grey, to “brighten up” the wings.
Parts of the jail have been converted for people with disabilities including lifts, widened cells, and wet room washing facilities.
Prisoners must have a minimum of 12-months sentence remaining to be admitted.
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A source told The Sun: “It’s like a holiday camp in there. To think some of these people have raped children, the public would be disgusted to see how they live.
“Because it’s all sex offenders together they feel safe and there is no trouble.
“They are given special privileges because they are older prisoners who are deemed to be well behaved.”
Gary Glitter Guilty: Star's fall from gracencG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTErKynZpOke7a3jqecsKtfbYNxhZJtbmifkafGbrPLoqutnaJivaKxw6hkqaqZqLyvew%3D%3D