Secret tunnel between Leicester hospital and prison revealed

The existence of a subterranean part of a city’s history – a tunnel linking a prison to a nearby hospital – has been unveiled.

Senior engineers at the Leicester Royal Infirmary (LRI) said the underground passage leading to the jail on the other side of Welford Road had been kept “hush hush” for years.

The tunnel was built in 1907 so inmates could be safely and discretely transported to the hospital, but it was bricked up and filled in the late 1980s or early 1990s.

“Officially, it doesn’t exist,” said Paul Lewis, who has worked in the hospital’s estate team for 45 years.

“You search for it and there will be no evidence of it.

“It was probably hush hush to stop prisoners trying to use it to escape.

“But it has long since been bricked up on both sides.”

Mr Lewis said the tunnel, built in 1907, formerly ran from a basement under the LRI’s Victoria Building to the jail.

He added: “It was only used for 20 or 30 years. We don’t know the exact dates.

“I have spoken to people who have been in the tunnel.

“The builder who was contracted to brick it up in the late 1980s or early 1990s confirmed he went in and walked it as far as he could, and he said he could hear the road noise [above].

Mr Lewis, who showed the BBC the cellar leading to the closed-off tunnel, said the area was off limits to everyone beyond the hospital’s estates team.

Leicester’s prison opened in 1828 and remains in use as a Category B jail for male prisoners.

The infirmary was established in 1771 with 40 beds and was run by a surgeon, matron, two nurses, a laundry maid, labourer, porter and cook.

Today it is one of the busiest hospitals in the country with 1,000 beds and 15,000 members of staff.

Additional reporting by Ben Jackson