Russell Brand has been transferred to a Category C prison where inmates have access to yoga, choir and an indoor football league, following his conviction for rape and sexual assault.
The 51-year-old comedian was sentenced this week after being found guilty of raping one woman and sexually assaulting three others during his career. According to The Sun on Sunday, he was moved out of HMP Wandsworth and taken to HMP Littlehey in Cambridgeshire on Friday.
Facilities at HMP Littlehey
HMP Littlehey provides a wide range of extracurricular activities for its inmates, including yoga, choir and indoor bowls. The prison also hosts an inter-wing football league.
According to the publication, the move came amid concerns for Brand's safety if he were placed in one of the high-security jails he had been linked with, such as HMP Wakefield, where Lostprophets' paedophile Ian Watkins was killed last year. He was also considered a low escape risk, which could have prompted the move.
Accommodation and sentence
His new accommodation consists of a single-person cell on the prison's E Wing. He has yet to make contact with any of the other inmates housed at the facility, which holds more than 1,200 people.
Brand was sentenced to a 10-and-a-half-year prison term on Monday afternoon. He is expected to serve two-thirds of his sentence before being released on licence, and will be on the sex offenders' register for life.
Reaction from former prison governor
Speaking to The Sun, retired prison governor Vanessa Frake said: "I am absolutely flabbergasted that he is in a Category C prison. He has no previous convictions, but he has got a substantial sentence - and there's possibly more in the pipeline.
"His high public profile and nature of the convictions, and his vulnerability to attacks will all have been encompassed in his risk assessment. But I am surprised they have downgraded him to a Category C already. I'd have thought Category B would have been more appropriate."
