with indecent assault/gross indecency between 1861-1967, the Broken Futures project, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and managed and delivered by Support U, the LGBT+ support and wellbeing charity in the Thames Valley. Closure On 4 September 2013 it was announced that HM Prison Reading would close by the end of that year, and the prison formally closed in January 2014 under The Closure of Prisons Order 2014. There have been calls for the prison building to be preserved as an arts and cultural hub, and Reading Borough Council have confirmed that they would like to retain the complex. In June 2014 it was proposed that the site could be converted into a theatre venue. However, in November 2015 it was announced by Chancellor George Osborne and Justice Secretary Michael Gove that the site was to be sold to housing developers. In May 2016 it was announced that the former prison would be made available as an arts venue for the Reading 2016 Year of Culture programme. An exhibition curated by Artangel attracted tens of thousands of visitors. There have been concerted efforts by campaigners wanting a permanent arts and cultural hub at the gaol. These include a petition started by local MP Matt Rodda and the "Reading Gaol Hug" in which about 1000 people surrounded the gaol linking hands. However in October 2019 the Ministry of Justice announced that the site was to be sold. A "March to the Gaol" scheduled for March 2021 had to be cancelled at the last moment due to the Coronavirus Pandemic. Reading Borough Council put forward a bid to turn the gaol into an arts and cultural hub. Artisan Real Estate was the successful bidder but in November 2020 it was announced that the sale had fallen through. Reading Borough Council were then given a period of exclusivity to prepare a new bid for the gaol by mid March 2021 On the night of 28 February 2021 graffiti artist Banksy painted a mural on the wall of the prison depicting a prisoner escaping on a rope made of bedsheets tied to a typewriter, speculated to be a reference to Wilde's imprisonment. Banksy uploaded a video of the creation titled "Create Escape" on 5 March, mixed over a narration by Bob Ross. Damian Jones of NME noted the possible link to the ongoing campaign to save the jail building as an arts hub,