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
Politics of the Isle of Wight is a part of the South East England region for the purposes of European Parliamentary elections. The results of the 2014 European Parliament election on the Isle of Wight were as follows. "The following results are exclusively for the Isle of Wight; results are collated regionally prior to MEPs being assigned under the closed list proportional representation system." Turnout on the Isle of Wight was 35,600 out of an electorate of 111,879 (31.82%) The results of the 2009 European election on the Isle of Wight were as follows. "The following results are exclusively for the Isle of Wight; results are