Acklington Prison opened in 1972, and was soon branded a holiday camp by the local media due to lax security and comfortable conditions for inmates. When the prison's security problems were at their worst, there were 14 escapes in one year. A review of security was undertaken in 1990 after a spate of escapes, including one in which a jogger trotted away from a supervised group and scaled the fence. Several weeks later two inmates hijacked a milk float and used it to dodge security.[1][failed verification]
Acklington came in for further criticism in September 2002 when prefabs were constructed at the prison to house inmates due to overcrowding.[1] A month later staff passed a vote of no confidence in governor Peter Atkinson, citing safety concerns over job cuts at the prison.[2]
In November 2004, three prisoners were involved in a disturbance which caused extensive damage to a wing of Acklington Prison. The inmates were protesting about being recently jailed, and were segregated after the incident.[3]
In July 2011, it was announced that Acklington along with several other publicly operated prisons, would be market tested, allowing private operators as well as HM Prison service, to tender for the contract to operate the prison.[4]
On 31 October 2011 HM Prison Acklington merged with HM Prison Castington to form HMP Northumberland [5] and on 1 December 2013 management of HMP Northumberland passed from Her Majesty's Prison Service to Sodexo Justice Services.[5]