On the edge of the English town of Wellingborough, the future of Britain¡¯s creaking prison system is marked by seven X-shaped blocks.
When opened in 2022, HMP Five Wells ¡ª about 70 miles (112 kilometers) north of London ¡ª was heralded as the first of a new generation of ¡°smart¡± prisons that would help modernize an outdated and severely overcrowded estate.
Its 1,694 ¡°residents¡± ¡ª not inmates ¡ª live in ¡°rooms,¡± not cells, fitted with their own shower.
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