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
Newport railway station (Isle of Wight Central Railway) the Ryde and Newport Railway, and the Isle of Wight (Newport Junction) Railway were merged to form the Isle of Wight Central Railway (IWCR). A major employer on the island, it was noted for its busy and purposeful camaraderie. Closed in 1966, the station served as a base for the Wight Locomotive Society until January 1971, when the site was demolished by scrap merchants. The station site is now built over with much of it now lost under the A3054, Medina Way. The trains of the Freshwater, Yarmouth and Newport Railway's terminated at the IWCR station from the opening of