LOCALS are fuming over plans which could see an ugly prison block built in their back garden.
Britain's most notorious women's jail has submitted an application to have a new housing inmate block erected just yards from people's home.
High security HMP Foston Hall is located near a residential cul-de-sac.
Many residents are now terrified murderers will overlook their houses.
The Derbyshire prison is home to some of the country's most dangerous women.
Inmates included Karen Matthews, who kidnapped her daughter Shannon, nine, in a sick bid to claim a £50,000 reward, Dr Strange actress Zara Phythian, who sexually abused a 13-year-old girl and Maxine Carr, who covered up her then boyfriend Ian Huntley’s heinous murders.
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Steve Pantall, one of four residents whose homes will back onto the new block, said: “It will be right at the bottom of my garden.
"There will only be a fence between me and them, my fence, and they will virtually be in our back garden.
“It is beautiful and quiet and that will all change.
“I’m all for prisoners being rehabilitated back into society but not right at the bottom of our garden!
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“We’re doing everything we can to fight it. I don't want it in my back yard. It’s too close.
"They could built it elsewhere within the grounds.
“It will also destroy the natural habitat, it’s open countryside with wildlife and birds, even woodpeckers."
The new accommodation for prisoners, who need less supervision, will be situated across the narrow lane from the main high-security facility.
The two-storey building will have washed out windows – but inmates will still be able to open and close them.
All the eight families impacted are fighting the plans.
Mum-of-two Wendy Lamb, who has lived in her home for 13 years, said: "It's the unknown which is worrying, and the lack of information and clarity.”
She told how in the past her husband Steve has been verbally abused by female inmates, shouting at him: “Get your kit off and show us your body parts."
Wendy, who has children aged 14 and 17, said: "You forget the prison is there until you drive past it."
A retired prison gardener, among the outraged residents, said: “It will destroy us, it will be dreadful.
The man, who declined to be named, added: “The block will be an invasion of privacy. We’ll be overlooked by the inmates.
“There will be a free flow of prisoners coming and going and they will struggle to get the staff to monitor them.
“I’ve lived here for 20 years, it is a nice community in the countryside and it will be ruined."
Planning documents show two new staggered blocks, with a six-foot fence, will be used for 50 inmates who have been assessed as "low-risk”.
Convicts there aren't locked up in cells and are allowed to go out to work.
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The prison was ranked as "poor” after an inspection four months ago with rates of violence said to be "far too high” with reports of more than 1,000 calls to Samaritans made my inmates every month.
The latest report also highlighted a "lack of deployable staff".
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