Isle of Wight it hosting three prisons: Albany, Camp Hill and Parkhurst, all located outside Newport near the main road to Cowes. Albany and Parkhurst were among the few Category A prisons in the UK until they were downgraded in the 1990s. The downgrading of Parkhurst was precipitated by a major escape: three prisoners (two murderers and a blackmailer) escaped from the prison on 3 January 1995 for four days, before being recaptured. Parkhurst enjoyed notoriety as one of the toughest jails in the United Kingdom, and housed many notable inmates including the Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe, New Zealand drug lord Terry Clark
Education on the Isle of Wight of Wight and other less formal educational venues. The Isle of Wight now conforms to the general pattern of education in the United Kingdom in which pupils at state schools change schools at the age of eleven (see Education in England). Pupils at both of the island's independent schools also change school at the age of eleven. State schools on the island now uses a two-tier system. The following types of school now exist: There are two independent schools on the Isle of Wight, which educate pupils from the early years to the age of 18: In 2006, the regional