Building prisons in England and Wales the bigger the better?

BRIEFING PAPER
Number 05646, 12 February 2016
Building prisons in
England and Wales: the
bigger, the better?
By Gabrielle Garton
Grimwood
Inside:
1. Introduction: The rise, fall and
rise again of the prison
population
2. The prison estate from June
2015: building “new for old”
3. Building bigger prisons and
closing smaller prisons: is
bigger necessarily better?
4. Will a rising prison
population defeat the MoJ’s
plans?
5. The prison estate 1997 to
2015
6. The “Titan” prison proposals
www.parliament.uk/commons-library | intranet.parliament.uk/commons-library | papers@parliament.uk | @commonslibrary

Number 05646, 12 February 2016 2
Contents
Summary 3
1. Introduction: The rise, fall and rise again of the prison population 5
2. The prison estate from June 2015: building “new for old” 6
2.1 “The treasure in the heart of man”: the aims of prison 6
2.2 A prison building revolution? 7
2.3 Diamonds in the rough? 8
3. Building bigger prisons and closing smaller prisons: is bigger necessarily
better? 12
4. Will a rising prison population defeat the MoJ’s plans? 15
5. The prison estate 1997 to 2015 17
5.1 The Labour Government’s capacity expansion programmes 17
Core capacity programme 17
New prisons programme 17
Building its way out of a crisis? Criticism of Labour’s prison building programme 18
5.2 Policies of the coalition Government 18
January 2011 to December 2012 - two new prisons and prison closures 19
Prison capacity: statements in January 2013, September 2013 and November
2013 20
5.3 June 2013 new prison announcement 22
6. The “Titan” prison proposals 23
6.1 Views from penal experts and Parliament 23
6.2 Ministry of Justice consultation and the demise of Titan prisons 26
Cover page image copyright: Gloucester Prison by quisnovus. Licensed under CC BY
2.0 / image cropped.

3 Building prisons in England and Wales: the bigger, the better?
Summary
This Commons Library briefing describes the expansion of the prison estate as successive
governments have sought to keep pace with the rise in the prison population – a rise that
accelerated in the early 1990s.
It examines
• The rise, fall and projected rise again of the prison population
• The current Government’s plans to increase prison capacity by building “new for
old” and selling off Victorian prisons in city centres
• The Government’s preference for larger prisons on the grounds that they are more
efficient
• What the increasing size of prisons might mean for prisons’ ability to reduce
reoffending and provide decent, safe and effective regimes and
• The Labour Government’s abandoned plans for even bigger “Titan” prisons
The prison population rose sharply from the early 1990s, but has more recently levelled
off. In December 2011 it reached a record high of 88,179, but since then has fluctuated
at around 85,000 and is currently at 85,461 (including those held in immigration removal
centres, as at 29 January 2016). The prison population is projected (according to the
MoJ’s most recent projection) to reach 89,900 by March 2021.
From 1997, the Labour Government undertook various initiatives to expand the capacity
of the prison estate, to ensure it kept up with the rising prison population. It also aimed
to increase efficiency.
Its two major prison building programmes were the Core Capacity Programme (which was
to provide 12,500 places by 2012) and the New Prisons Programme (which was to provide
a further 7,500 places alongside the closure of 5,500 inefficient places). Originally three
“Titan” prisons were to provide those 7,500 places. This proposal, however, attracted a
great deal of controversy and criticism. It was suggested that Titan prisons would be
difficult to manage, would not help to tackle re-offending and would not address the
more fundamental problem of the UK’s over-reliance (as some commentators see it) on
imprisonment. The plan for Titan prisons was subsequently abandoned.
The Conservative party manifesto at the 2010 general election offered a commitment to
increasing the capacity of the prison estate to meet demand. The Liberal Democrat party’s
manifesto, on the other hand, stated that their proposals to reduce the prison population
would end the need for the building programme. Under the coalition Government, the
contract for the new Thameside prison was let and a competition launched for a new
prison in Wales at Wrexham. At the same time, the Ministry of Justice announced the
closure of several prisons, as it sought to replace older prisons with new capacity and so
bring down operating costs.
The current Government has continued these policies. Many commentators have
suggested that the appointment of Michael Gove as Lord Chancellor and Secretary of
State for Justice will mean a shift in the Ministry of Justice’s policies towards prisons and
other criminal justice matters. Some key policies of his predecessor, Chris Grayling, such
as new dual contracting arrangements for criminal legal aid provision and a further cut in
fees paid, have since been abandoned or postponed. Even so, the Ministry of Justice
remains committed to the policy of “new for old”, selling off antiquated prisons (which
they argue are less efficient and less cost-effective) in city centre sites in favour of building
new prisons to better designs.

Number 05646, 12 February 2016 4
Michael Gove has argued that the drive to reduce reoffending could be helped by closing
ageing and ineffective Victorian prisons and building new, safer and more efficient
prisons:
That’s why I think we have to consider closing down the ageing and ineffective
Victorian prisons in our major cities, reducing the crowding and ending the
inefficiencies which blight the lives of everyone in them and building new prisons
which embody higher standards in every way they operate. The money which could
be raised from selling off inner city sites for development would be significant.
It could be re-invested in a modern prison estate where prisoners do not have to share
overcrowded accommodation but also where the dark corners that facilitate bullying,
drug-taking and violence could increasingly be designed out.
The Prime Minister, David Cameron, has recently outlined his commitment to prison
reform, saying that he wanted to see a “modern, more effective, truly twenty-first century
prison system”. The reforms would follow the general pattern of the Government’s
reforms to other public services. New prisons could (he argued) help raise standards, as
many older prisons were inadequate:
These are places that were barely fit for human habitation when they were built, and
are much, much worse today.
Although (he said) prison is needed for serious offenders, simple incapacitation was not
enough and there are “diminishing returns” in increasing levels of incarceration.
The Justice Select Committee, though, has investigated prison planning and policies and
has questioned whether the Ministry of Justice will be able to achieve its aims. The
Committee agreed that the new for old policy was right in principle, but identified various
factors - such as the need to keep open older prisons, to cope with a rising prison
population – which might get in the way of implementation.
In similar vein, Frances Crook, director of the Howard League for Penal Reform, has also
suggested that the plan might prove to be unworkable:
I do not think this will work, not least because we have been here before. … Some of
the prisons are not owned by the Ministry of Justice but by the Queen or rich
landlords. So the Ministry may not get the profit from any sale. The cart and horse
argument is pretty tricky too, as you have to build the new prison to house people
before you flog off the old one. New prisons get filled up immediately so you end up
with the full new one and the full old one …
The proposed size of the prison at Wrexham (and another new prison to replace Feltham
young offenders’ institution) has revived some of the arguments about Titan prisons and
the optimum size for any prison establishment. Is bigger better or, conversely, is small
beautiful?
Other Commons Library briefings on prisons are available on Parliament’s topic page for
prisons.

5 Building prisons in England and Wales: the bigger, the better?
1. Introduction: The rise, fall and
rise again of the prison
population
What lies beneath the growth in the prison population?
Since 2011, the prison population has fluctuated at around 85,000. It currently stands at
85,461 (including those held in immigration removal centres, as at 29 January 2016).
The MoJ’s latest projections suggest that the prison population may rise to 86,700 by the
end of June 2016 and to 89,900 by March 2021. 1
For a discussion of the factors underlying the growth of the prison population, see the
Commons Library briefing papers
• Prison population and overcrowding: key issues for the 2015 Parliament (May 2015)
• Reducing reoffending: the “what works” debate (December 2012) and
• Prison population: social indicators page (November 2015)
The prison population rose sharply from the early 1990s, but has more
recently levelled off. In December 2011 it reached a record high of
88,179, but since then has fluctuated at around 85,000 and is currently
at 85,461 (including those held in immigration removal centres, as at 29
January 2016). 2
The MoJ’s most recent projections indicate that they are expecting the
prison population to rise again and could reach 89,900 by March 2021. 3
Successive governments have sought to keep pace with a rising prison
population and, at the same time, to replace old and inefficient prisons
with more modern provision. More recently, a drop in the prison
population has reduced the pressure to increase prison capacity,
although the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) continues to seek ways of
reducing costs.
A particularly noticeable trend in the prison population has been the fall
in the number of young inmates; the under-21 age group accounted for
around a tenth of the prison population at its peak in March 2012, but
has accounted for three-quarters of the fall in the total prison
population since then. There have been falls across most sentenceduration
categories, including a large percentage fall in the number of
prisoners serving a sentence of six months or less (down 22% between
March 2012 and December 2013). 4
1
MoJ, Statistics Bulletin, Prison Population Projections 2015 – 2021 England and
Wales, 26 November 2015
2
MoJ Population and capacity briefing for Friday 29 January 2016
3
MoJ, Statistics Bulletin, Prison Population Projections 2015 – 2021 England and
Wales, 26 November 2015. The projected rise in the prison population is largely due
(the MoJ says) to “recent trends in offender case mix, where we have seen more
serious cases (e.g. sexual offences) come before the courts. This results in offenders
receiving longer custodial sentence lengths, which in turn places an upward pressure
on the prison population”.
4
MoJ Offender management statistics quarterly

Number 05646, 12 February 2016 6
2. The prison estate from June
2015: building “new for old”
The MoJ has indicated that it will continue with the “new for old”
approach, replacing old and outdated prisons with new ones with
better design. These might (Ministers argue) increase opportunities for
rehabilitation and reduce costs and inefficiencies, whilst making it easier
to tackle endemic problems such as violence and drug-taking.
It is also pressing ahead with plans for the new prison in Wrexham.
2.1 “The treasure in the heart of man”: the
aims of prison
In a speech which many commentators suggested was evidence that his
arrival as Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice heralded a
radical change of approach, Michael Gove lamented the failings of the
prison system, particularly its failure to rehabilitate prisoners. 5
He argued that there would always be a need for punishment, to
uphold the law and support the weak, but quoted Sir Winston
Churchill’s views about the place of punishment and rehabilitation:
As Winston Churchill argued, there should be “a constant heartsearching
by all charged with the duty of punishment, a desire
and eagerness to rehabilitate in the world of industry all those
who have paid their dues in the hard coinage of punishment,
tireless efforts towards the discovery of curative and regenerating
processes and an unfaltering faith that there is a treasure, if you
can only find it, in the heart of every man.” 6
He also argued that any “one nation” government must be committed
to tackling reoffending. This (he went on) would be helped by closing
ageing and ineffective Victorian prisons and investing the proceeds of
their sale in new prisons, which would be safer and more secure:
That’s why I think we have to consider closing down the ageing
and ineffective Victorian prisons in our major cities, reducing the
crowding and ending the inefficiencies which blight the lives of
everyone in them and building new prisons which embody higher
standards in every way they operate. The money which could be
raised from selling off inner city sites for development would be
significant.
It could be re-invested in a modern prison estate where prisoners
do not have to share overcrowded accommodation but also
where the dark corners that facilitate bullying, drug-taking and
violence could increasingly be designed out. 7
Plans for the prison
at Wrexham are
discussed in the
Welsh Affairs
Committee’s report
Prisons in Wales and
the treatment of
Welsh offenders
(March 2015) and in
the Government’s
response (September
2015).
5
See, for example, “Prison education must be 'overhauled', Michael Gove says”, BBC
News online, 17 July 2015, Frances Crook’s blog post Michael Gove and prisons on
the Howard league for Penal Reform website and (following a later speech at the
Conservative Party conference) Nigel Morris, “Michael Gove pledges to bring
'reforming zeal' to the prison system”, Independent online, 6 October 2015
6
MoJ, The treasure in the heart of man - making prisons work, 17 July 2015
7
Ibid

7 Building prisons in England and Wales: the bigger, the better?
Frances Crook of the Howard League for Penal Reform, though,
suggested that the plan might prove to be unworkable, especially if the
old prisons remained full and the MoJ still needed their capacity:
I do not think this will work, not least because we have been here
before. The Conservatives looked at this in some detail before the
2010 election and it was fraught with problems. Some of the
prisons are not owned by the Ministry of Justice but by the Queen
or rich landlords. So the Ministry may not get the profit from any
sale. The cart and horse argument is pretty tricky too, as you have
to build the new prison to house people before you flog off the
old one. New prisons get filled up immediately so you end up with
the full new one and the full old one – one reason why the prison
estate has steadily expanded over the years. 8
2.2 A prison building revolution?
In November 2015, with the Chancellor, George Osborne, Michael Gove
announced a “prison building revolution”, in which £1.3 billion would
be spent on building 10,000 new prison places – many of them in nine
new prisons – and reforming prison infrastructure. Outdated prisons in
city centres would (they said) be closed. 9
The statement promised that five of these new prisons would be
opened by the end of this Parliament, but no announcement has yet
been made about where they might be. Officials at NOMS have
indicated that any such public statement is probably some way off. 10
Further discussion of
the Government’s
plans for prison
reform can be found
in House of Lords In
Focus, HM
Government’s
proposals for prison
reform, LIF 2016/002,
18 January 2016
In the meantime, junior minister for prisons, probation and
rehabilitation, Andrew Selous, has again given a broad indication of
what the MoJ hopes to achieve through the prison building programme,
by improving prison design and opportunities for rehabilitation and
realising money through the sale of no longer wanted estate:
On 9 November the Chancellor and Secretary of State announced
their intention to build a prison estate which allows prisoners to
be rehabilitated, thereby enabling them to turn away from a life
of crime. This will involve building nine new prisons and closing
old and inefficient prisons which do not support the aims of a
redesigned estate. No decisions have yet been made on where
new prisons will be built.
We are currently considering which of our old and inefficient
prisons will close. We will engage with stakeholders during the
process of sale including valuation experts and potential
developers in order to maximise the value achieved. 11
More recently, in January 2016, he reiterated that new prisons would
provide better facilities and enable prison governors to tackle persistent
problems such as bullying and violence:
It is excellent news that the Chancellor committed to invest £1.3
billion to build nine new prisons in addition to the new prison that
we are building in north Wales, which has not had a prison for
well over 100 years. We will design out the features of the new
8
Frances Crook, Michael Gove and prisons, 17 July 2015
9
HM Treasury and MoJ, Prison building revolution announced by Chancellor and
Justice Secretary, 9 November 2015
10
Personal communication, 2 February 2016
11
PQ 16112 of 23 November 2015

Number 05646, 12 February 2016 8
prisons that facilitate bullying, drug taking and violence, so that
we get on top of those problems. 12
2.3 Diamonds in the rough?
In February 2016, the Prime Minister, David Cameron, gave a speech in
which he repeated his call (made in 2009) for league tables for prisons
and argued that, in tackling deep-rooted social problems, prisons should
not be a no go area.
He argued that prison reform should be a “great progressive cause”
and set out his vision for a “modern, more effective, truly twenty-first
century prison system”. He described too why the failure of the current
system mattered:
It matters to the public purse: this cycle of reoffending costs up to
£13 billion a year.
It matters to you: because in the end, who are the victims of this
re-offending? It’s the mother who gets burgled or the young boy
who gets mugged.
It matters to the prison staff - some of the most deeply committed
public servants in our country – who have to work in dangerous
and often intimidating conditions.
And yes, it matters to the prisoners themselves, who mustn’t feel
that society has totally given up on them. 13
David Cameron went on to argue against the views that had (he said)
held back progress. The ‘lock ‘em up’ or ‘let ‘em out’ debate was (he
argued) sterile and had got in the way of real change. Prison was (he
maintained) needed for serious offenders, but simple incapacitation was
not enough. 14 He referred to the “diminishing returns” of increasing
levels of incarceration:
And the truth is that simply warehousing ever more prisoners is
not financially sustainable, nor is it necessarily the most costeffective
way of cutting crime. 15
From here, David Cameron set out the principles of the reform he
wanted to see, which would follow the pattern of reforms to other
public services:
One: give much greater autonomy to the professionals who work
in our public services, and allow new providers and new ideas to
flourish.
(…)
Two: hold these providers and professionals to account with real
transparency over outcomes.
(…)
12
HC Deb 27 January 2016 c378
13
“Cameron prison reform speech in full”, politics.co.uk, 8 February 2016
14
‘incapacitation’, that is, the value in putting offenders in custody so that they are not
able to offend, is discussed in the Commons Library briefing Reducing reoffending:
the “what works” debate (RP12/73, 23 November 2012): see in particular chapter 1
on the purposes of imprisonment and incapacitation.
15
“Cameron prison reform speech in full”, politics.co.uk, 8 February 2016

9 Building prisons in England and Wales: the bigger, the better?
Three: intervene decisively and dramatically to deal with persistent
failure, or to fix the underlying problems people may have.
(…)
Four: use the latest behavioural insights evidence and harness new
technology to deliver better outcomes.
(…)
By applying these principles, I believe we really can deliver a
modern, more effective prisons system that has a far better
chance of turning prisoners into productive members of society.
David Cameron wanted, he said, prisons to be places of care. He set
out how new prisons could help raise standards:
I think it’s frankly a disgrace that for so long we’ve been
cramming people into ageing, ineffective prisons that are
creaking, leaking and coming apart at the seams.
These are places that were barely fit for human habitation when
they were built, and are much, much worse today.
(…)
So I am proud that this this Government has made a £1.3 billion
commitment to knock many of these prisons down and to build
nine new ones, including five during this Parliament.
As Policy Exchange’s work has shown, these new prisons can be
far more effective at rehabilitating offenders, with modern
facilities and smart use of technology such as biometric key
systems. 16
He also described at more length what he envisaged, which included
• greater operational and financial autonomy for prison governors
would remove “bureaucratic micromanagement” which (he said)
infantilised prison staff
• adopting the academies model used for schools
• creating six “reform prisons” this year, run by “some of the most
innovative governors”
• a strong role for businesses and charities in operating the reform
prisons and the new prisons to be built in this Parliament
• developing “meaningful metrics” about prison performance and
• a Prisons Bill in the next session which would spread these
principles across the rest of the prison system.
The prison system was (he said) in some ways stuck in the dark ages,
but diamonds could be found in the rough and enabled to shine:
If we get it right, we can change lives, improve public safety and
bring hope to those for whom it was in short supply.
Turning waste and idleness into prisons with purpose.
Turning remorse and regret into lives with new meaning.
Finding diamonds in the rough and helping them shine. 17
16
“Cameron prison reform speech in full”, politics.co.uk, 8 February 2016
17
Ibid

Number 05646, 12 February 2016 10
The reaction to David Cameron’s speech was generally positive,
although some commentators pointed to potential pitfalls and problems
to be overcome.
Frances Crook, the chief executive of the Howard League for Penal
Reform, welcomed the speech, saying that it created an opportunity for
“radical and rational thinking”, although prison reform was the tip of
the iceberg and issues such as sentence inflation and overuse of prison
needed urgent action: 18
"Prisons are currently violent and overcrowded. As such, they fail
everyone: victims, the public, staff and prisoners themselves.
"Prison reform, however, is the tip of the iceberg. Improved
education and increased autonomy for governors will not work if
there are people crammed into filthy institutions with no staff to
open the cell doors. We need action now to tackle sentence
inflation and the profligate use of prison. Then the Prime
Minister's vision can become a reality.” 19
The Roman Catholic bishop of Arundel and Brighton, the church’s lead
bishop for prisons in England and Wales, also welcomed the speech,
describing the treatment of prisoners as a “pressing moral challenge”:
In a statement, Bishop Richard Moth of Arundel and Brighton said
he was “very encouraged by the Prime Minister’s commitment to
reforming our prison system and his recognition that prisoners
should be treated as assets to our society rather than liabilities to
be managed. How we treat prisoners is one of the most pressing
moral challenges today and something that none of us should
ignore.” 20
Writing on the Conservative Home website, the associate director for
public services at the Institute for Public Policy Research, Jonathan
Clifton, agreed that prisons were currently not providing an effective
service, but argued that league tables and the like could only go so far
in raising standards, because so many factors – such as sentencing
decisions – were outside prison governors’ control:
[The reforms] all hold much promise for the prison system –
giving governors stronger incentives and more freedom to tailor
their prison regimes towards rehabilitation can only be a good
thing. Anything that promotes transparency in our closed prison
system should be welcomed.
But as Gove discovered with his school reforms, autonomy and
league tables can only go so far in the face of major structural
challenges.
Many of the problems facing our prison system are linked to
factors that lie outside of the control of prison governors – such as
the sentencing decisions made by courts, funding cuts to the
18
The issue of ratcheting-up of sentences is discussed in the Commons Library briefing
Reducing reoffending: the “what works” debate (RP12/73, 23 November 2012): see
in particular chapter 3 on the competing views of prison, influences on sentencing
decisions and whether reducing the prison population could be a matter of political
will.
19
Howard League for Penal Reform media release, Howard League responds to Prime
Minister’s prison reform proposals, 8 February 2016
20 “Bishop ‘encouraged’ by David Cameron’s plan for prison reform”, Catholic Herald
online, 9 February 2016

11 Building prisons in England and Wales: the bigger, the better?
ministry of justice, and the quality of probation and community
services that could tackle the underlying causes of crime. 21
Some commentators were more sceptical about the Prime Minister’s
commitment to reform. An article on the Spectator’s blog questioned
David Cameron’s commitment to prison reform and quoted the views of
the director of the Prison Reform Trust:
His motives may seem worthy but it’s arguable he is merely paying
lip service to an issue which has been bubbling along under his
watch for years.
That much appeared to be the view of the Prison Reform Trust’s
Juliet Lyon. Speaking on Today, Lyon criticised the PM for turning
late to the issue.
(…)
Juliet Lyon was then asked what she made of the reforms. She
said:
‘If it is genuinely part of a social legacy programme then it is
welcome.’
(…)
But as with his criticism of Oxford [for not admitting more
students from black and minority ethnic backgrounds], which
seemed to spring out of nowhere, so, too, his labelling of the
state of prisons as ‘scandalous’ looks like a nod to legacy rather
than a view based on genuine desire to reform. The Prison
Officers’ Association warned in 2012 that jails were in a state of
‘crisis’. Four years on, without another election to fight, the PM
says he keen to do something about it. But is it too late to take
him seriously? 22
Laura Bates of the Everyday Sexism project, argued that David
Cameron’s planned reforms, to take mothers and babies out of the
prison environment, did not go far enough and more would need to be
done, to provide both preventative work and suitable alterative
provision for mothers who offend. 23
21
Jonathan Clifton: How progressive are the Prime Minister’s prison reforms?,
Conservative Home, 8 February 2016
22
Tom Goodenough, “Are we really supposed to believe David Cameron cares about
reforming prisons?”, Spectator blog online, 8 February 2016
23
Laura Bates, “Babies behind bars: why Cameron’s support of prison reform falls
short”, Guardian online, 11 February 2016

Number 05646, 12 February 2016 12
3. Building bigger prisons and
closing smaller prisons: is
bigger necessarily better?
One concern that has been expressed in the light of the decision to build a 2,000-
place prison in Wrexham and to replace the Feltham young offender institution with
a large new adult prison and adjoining youth facility is that prisons are becoming
bigger, as smaller, older prisons close, to be replaced by larger prisons. 24
Some commentators argue that larger prisons function less well and are less likely to help
prisoners to quit offending as they are held farther from their homes, but others argue that
they are the most cost-effective option (providing economies of scale) and that a prison’s size
does not, in itself, determine its decency, safety or effectiveness.
The Prison Reform Trust (PRT) has drawn attention to the trend,
describing the new prisons as “Titan prisons by stealth”:
On current trends the proposed changes will result in around
38,000 people held in 30 supersized jails across the country, the
Prison Reform Trust's analysis of the latest prison population
statistics and projections reveals. This represents nearly half of the
total number of people behind bars in England in Wales.
(…)
The top three supersized jails are all in the private sector: G4S-run
Oakwood (1,600) Birmingham (1,436) and Sodexo-led Forest
Bank (1,348). A full list of 1,000 plus prisons is published below. 25
An earlier PRT briefing, published in 2008, drawing on a comparison by
HM Inspectorate of Prisons of large and small prisons, based on 154
factors, argued that the weight of evidence was against larger prisons,
which were consistently poorer at meeting prisoner needs and creating
a healthy prison environment:
This ongoing and respected series of reports reinforce the views of
prison officers and prison governors by demonstrating that it is
the country’s biggest prisons - themselves only half the size of the
proposed Titans - that cause the biggest problems. In evidence to
MPs in December 2007, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, Anne
Owers, noted:
‘It has to be said that the prisons about which the Inspectorate
has historically been most worried are the large, inner-city, local
prisons’.
The briefing also quoted the views of Lord Woolf and criminologist
Professor Alison Liebling:
Lord Woolf in his seminal report on the prison system following
the disturbances at Strangeways prison recommended prisons
‘should not normally hold more than 400 prisoners … the
24
MoJ press release, Modernisation of the prison estate, 4 September 2013
25
Prison Reform Trust, News: Nearly half of all prisoners to be warehoused in 1,000
plus super-sized jails, 30 October 2013

13 Building prisons in England and Wales: the bigger, the better?
evidence suggests that if these figures are exceeded, there can be
a marked fall off in all aspects of the performance of a prison’.
Professor Alison Liebling, of the Institute of Criminology,
University of Cambridge cites ‘several analyses of prison life and
quality provide empirical support for the argument that “small is
better”’. 26
David Cameron was quoted in 2009 as arguing that, in the case of
prisons, big was not beautiful:
The idea that big is beautiful with prisons is wrong … I have spent
some time in prison – purely in a professional capacity – at
Wandsworth prison and was profoundly depressed by the size
and impersonality" 27
Appearing before the Justice Committee in 2010, the then Lord
Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, Kenneth Clarke, was
questioned about whether he would choose to build prisons of 1,500
places. He suggested that prisons of this size might represent a “costeffective
balance” between economic benefit and risk of failure:
I remember when I was not shadowing this Department being
rather alarmed by the idea of building [Titan] prisons, which poses
all sorts of problems. We will make a judgment in the individual
case. There are undoubtedly economic benefits in having large
prisons. It is inescapable; it is rather like large hospitals. But you
do have to make a judgment about how far that helps you and,
on the other hand, what the risks are in managing such a prison
when you go forward. 28
Support for the concept of larger prisons came some time after this
from a report by the think tank Policy Exchange, which recommended
“hub prisons” of up to 3,000 places:
Hub Prisons would be large establishments of between 2,500–
3,000 places. They would be designed to be operated as a
number of semi-autonomous units sharing a common site and set
of services; provide operational flexibility to respond to changes in
the size and profile of the prison population; be built on
brownfield sites, helping to drive wider community and social
benefits; and be located strategically to enable good connection
with main transport routes and to hold more prisoners as close to
home as possible. 29
The author of the report (himself a former prison governor) dismissed as
a “myth” the idea that smaller prisons were inherently better, arguing
that it was a prison’s age, not its size, which determined decency, safety
and effectiveness:
Newer prisons perform better than older prisons, regardless of
size. When comparing establishments with the same functions,
reoffending levels, respect between staff and prisoners, decency,
quality of life and safety measures are all higher for newer prisons
than for older ones.
26
Prison Reform Trust, Titan prisons: A gigantic mistake, (undated)
27
Helen Carter “David Cameron calls for league tables to improve UK prisons”,
Guardian online, 6 January 2009
28
Justice Committee, The work of the Ministry of Justice: Minutes of evidence, HC
378-i, 2010-12, 21 July 2010: Q56ff
29
Kevin Lockyer, Future prisons: A radical plan to reform the prison estate, Policy
Exchange, June 2013: page 6

Number 05646, 12 February 2016 14
For a long time, it has been assumed, without evidence, that
smaller prisons outperform larger ones. But size is irrelevant.
When it comes to prisons, we prove that, contrary to popular
myth, small is not good and big is not bad. This is a potentially
game-changing contention – and one which offers exciting
opportunities for reform. 30
30
Kevin Lockyer, Future prisons: A radical plan to reform the prison estate, Policy
Exchange, June 2013: page 6

15 Building prisons in England and Wales: the bigger, the better?
4. Will a rising prison population
defeat the MoJ’s plans?
In its March 2015 report Prisons: Planning and policies, the Justice
Committee expressed some scepticism (in the context of estimates of
the savings arising from building the new prison at Wrexham) about
NOMS’ ability, because of the rising prison population, actually to close
the old inefficient prison places and therefore realise the savings.
The Committee concluded that the modernisation policy was good in
principle, although (it observed) the National Audit Office (NAO) had
reached the view that the closures of smaller prisons were more about
cost savings than they were about performance.
The Committee remarked too on the decrepit state of some prisons:
We recognise in particular that some prisons have been operating,
and some continue to operate, with decrepit buildings that hinder
effective rehabilitation; and we note that redesign and reconfiguration
provide the opportunity for new technologies and
their resulting efficiencies to be embedded in the infrastructure of
the prison estate. 31
The Committee noted too that prisons were often not in the most
useful or appropriate locations, often being in rural areas, far from
prisoners’ homes:
Phil Wheatley CB, former Director General of NOMS, explained
that decisions about where and when to build new prisons were
constrained by several factors, including the imprecise nature of
forecasting, the time taken to build new places, securing the
necessary finance from the Treasury, and getting planning
permission. The Prison Officers’ Association characterised NOMS’
approach as building where it was cheapest and moving the
prisoners accordingly. 32
The Committee considered the evidence that had been put before it
about the new for old programme.
It noted that various benefits had been ascribed to newer prisons,
ranging from making more use of technology and reducing various
costs to enabling the prison to run with fewer staff. 33 Nonetheless, the
Committee also identified several potential problems or pitfalls which
might get in the way of the MoJ’s plans to close old, inefficient prisons
and replace them with new and better-designed prisons.
Closing prisons - however antiquated they might be - still (the
Committee suggested) posed considerable challenges. HM Prison
Dartmoor was a case in point:
For example, when we visited HMP Dartmoor during our inquiry
into older prisoners it was clear to us that the facilities were
unsuitable for current purposes, and modernisation was not
31
Justice Committee, Prisons: Planning and Policies, 18 March 2015, HC 309 2014-15:
page 19
32
Ibid: page 10
33
Ibid: page 9

Number 05646, 12 February 2016 16
feasible, not least because it is a listed building. The Government
has now announced that it has commenced negotiations with the
Duchy of Cornwall, which owns the prison, about its closure.
However, given that there is a notice period of 10 years it is likely
to continue to operate for some years to come. 34
Opening new prisons could bring fresh problems of its own, not least
because new establishments tended not to perform well in their early
days. 35 The Committee also expressed some concern about the
increasing homogeneity of prison provision and a trend towards “one
size fits all”, as (it argued) the system became less diverse:
The apparent trend towards less diverse prison provision may have
been influenced by recent Government policies which have
included the replacement of young offender institutions, secure
training centres and secure children’s homes with secure colleges,
the planned closure of open prisons and reduction in mother and
baby units for women, and the proposed abolition of specialist
institutions for young adults. 36
The Committee looked ahead to the MoJ’s projections of what the
prison population might be by June 2020. 37 It noted too that the time
and cost of building a new prison would mean that it might take
decades before seeing any savings. Even these might not be seen if the
old prisons had to remain open to cope with a rising prison population:
In addition, these savings are dependent on the consequent
closure of older and more expensive places, which might not be
possible if future demand tends towards the upper end of what
are inevitably imperfect projections. 38
In its recommendations, the Committee concluded that the Government
had not addressed questions about how the size of a prison related to
its performance. 39 The MoJ had also (the Committee said) failed to plan
for some of the consequences of modernisation:
When prisons are going through transition, whether that takes
the form of opening, changing purpose, merging, or becoming
managed by another sector, levels of performance are typically
affected, at least in the short-term. There may well be
unanticipated and unquantified costs of reconfiguring the prison
estate in this manner. If the pressure to expand capacity
continues, so too will the need for ongoing adaptations of the
estate, with the risk that some establishments may be in a
constant state of flux. 40
In its response to the Justice Committee, the MoJ welcomed the
Committee’s broad support for its new for old policy. 41
34
Justice Committee, Prisons: Planning and Policies, 18 March 2015, HC 309 2014-15:
page 10
35
Ibid: page 12
36
Ibid: page 17
37
Ibid: page 8
38
Ibid: page 19
39
Ibid: page 19
40
Ibid: pages 12-3
41
MoJ, Government Response to the Justice Committee’s Ninth Report of Session
2014-15: Prisons: Planning and Policies, Cm 9114, July 2015: page 6

17 Building prisons in England and Wales: the bigger, the better?
5. The prison estate 1997 to 2015
5.1 The Labour Government’s capacity
expansion programmes
By the end of the Labour Government, it had provided over 27,000
places since 1997, although not all through new build. 42
There were two main programmes to provide new prison places,
intended to permit modernisation of the prison estate and the closure
of worn-out, inefficient places:
• the Core Capacity Programme covered piecemeal expansion
through expansions at existing prisons, more effective use of the
estate together with some new prisons.
• the New Prisons Programme, resulting from the Carter review,
involved the construction of new large prisons. The initial
proposals were for three “Titan” prisons each housing 2,500
prisoners, but these were scaled down to five prisons each
housing 1,500 prisoners.
According to the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), the
position as it stood in April 2010 was as follows: 43
Core capacity programme
• The programme aimed to provide 12,500 additional places in new
and existing prisons by 2012
• Places were being provided through expansions at existing
prisons, more effective use of the estate and new prisons.
• The capital construction cost of the Core Capacity Programme
was estimated at about £2bn.
• The annual running cost of Core Capacity Programme, once the
programme had been completed, was estimated to be just over
£500m.
• New prisons in the public sector: Kennet, Littlehey (next to the
existing prison), Bure (formerly RAF Coltishall) and Isis.
• New prisons in the private sector: Belmarsh West and Maghull
(and one prison ─ Featherstone 2 44 ─ whose operator was still the
subject of a competition).
• One Young Offender Institution ─ Glen Parva ─ was planned to
be built in partnership with the Youth Justice Board.
New prisons programme
• This programme aimed to provide 7,500 places in up to five new
1,500 place prisons, and to close up to 5,500 worn out, inefficient
places.
• Outline planning permission had been submitted for the first
1,500 place new prison at Runwell, Essex. Site searches were
underway in areas of greatest strategic need (West Yorkshire,
North Wales, North West England and Greater London).
42
National Offender Management Service, Personal communication, 30 April 2010
43
Unless otherwise referenced, all figures quoted here were provided by NOMS in a
personal communication, 30 April 2010
44
Now HM Prison Oakwood

Number 05646, 12 February 2016 18
• Capital cost of constructing five 1,500 place prisons had been
estimated to be around £1.2bn excluding VAT and site purchase
costs.
Capacity and Competition Policy for Prisons and Probation summarised
recent developments. 45
Building its way out of a crisis? Criticism of
Labour’s prison building programme
Commentators were critical of the Labour Government’s reliance on
building more prison places as a means of coping with the increased
prison population – a point picked up by the Justice Committee in its
report on justice reinvestment (discussed later).
A former HM chief inspector of prisons, Lord Ramsbotham, criticised
Labour’s "torrent of hastily and ill-thought through legislation" on
criminal justice and lack of a clear strategy:
Highlighting the rise in reoffending, [Lord Ramsbotham] poses the
question: "Is the public being protected?" before adding: "If
reoffending is used as a measure of that, the answer is a
resounding no. When New Labour took over in 1997, the
reoffending rate for adult male prisoners stood at 55% within
two years of release. It now stands at 67%." 46
The PRT argued in 2008 that building more prisons was a “failing
strategy”. Unless the growth in the prison population was halted, Titan
prisons could be no more than an expensive but short-term solution.
The MoJ’s projections of the prison population should (the PRT said) be
regarded as a warning of what lay ahead. 47
The former Lord Chief Justice, Lord Woolf (who led the inquiry into the
riot at Manchester’s Strangeways prison) also spoke against successive
Home Secretaries’ encouragement of harsher sentencing and the
resulting overcrowding in prisons:
In such a severe economic crisis it is folly to have policies that
make the prison population substantially higher than is necessary.
Many US states are introducing policies to cut the number of
prisoners, which, in turn, has cut reoffending. We must do the
same. 48
5.2 Policies of the coalition Government
In the aftermath of the formation of the coalition Government,
conjecture surrounded its plans for the prison building programme and
whether that programme could or should be shelved as the
Government’s criminal justice policies took effect. There was
speculation about whether the Government would continue with the
prison building programme, especially as remarks by Kenneth Clarke
45
See, for example, MoJ, Capacity and Competition Policy for Prisons and Probation,
April 2009: page 8
46
Karen McVeigh, “Former chief inspector says Labour left 'dysfunctional' prison
service in crisis” Guardian online, 24 May 2010
47
Prison Reform Trust, Titan prisons: A gigantic mistake, August 2008: page 10
48
Lord Woolf, “Britain’s ballooning prison population is a disastrous mess” Times
online, 27 May 2010 [paywall]

19 Building prisons in England and Wales: the bigger, the better?
appeared to cast doubt on whether a prison population of more than
85,000 was necessary or sustainable.
In an interview in June 2010, Kenneth Clarke questioned why the prison
population should be twice what it was when he was Home Secretary
from 1992 to 1993. 49 Likewise, his remarks in a speech to the Centre
for Crime and Justice Studies ─ in which he described the size of the
prison population as “astonishing ─ were interpreted by some
commentators as a shift away from the use of prison as a political tool.
Kenneth Clarke observed that there would always be a need for
imprisonment for those who had committed serious offences, but
questioned whether the vast rise in the prison population had in itself
protected the public against crime or whether the public felt safer. He
rejected, though, the notion that sentencing decisions should reflect
considerations of cost and said that the MoJ was still letting contracts
for new prisons. 50
January 2011 to December 2012 - two new prisons
and prison closures
As the projections for prison population in future years reduced, the
MoJ took the opportunity to close older, more costly prison places. 51
In January 2011, the MoJ announced the closure of two prisons (HM
Prisons Lancaster Castle and Ashwell) and the changing of a third (HM
Prison Morton Hall) into an Immigration Removal Centre, with the total
loss of around 849 places. In July 2011, it announced the closure of
two more prisons (HM Prisons Latchmere House and Brockhill) with the
further loss of 377 places. 52
In March 2012, the MoJ announced that two new prisons would begin
opening that year, providing around 2,500 additional places by March
2013. HM Prison Thameside, which would provide around 900 places,
was to start operating in March 2012, and HM Prison Oakwood
(previously known as Featherstone 2) which would provide around
1,600 places, was expected to open in April 2012. The MoJ said that
total prison capacity would be around 91,000 by March 2013. 53,54
Soon after, in July 2012, the MoJ announced it would be closing HMP
Wellingborough, with the loss of 588 prison places. Kenneth Clarke
said that, with the opening of new prison accommodation earlier in the
year the “opportunity [existed] to further improve the estate by closing
uneconomic prison places at HMP Wellingborough”. The MoJ said the
49
Christopher Hope, “Lock Up Fewer Criminals To Save Money, Justice Secretary Ken
Clarke Suggests” Daily Telegraph online, 14 June 2010
50
SERCO announced that its consortium had signed a contract (worth about £415m
and running for 26½ years) to provide and operate a new prison at Belmarsh West
in London. [SERCO Stock Exchange Announcement “Serco signs contract for
Belmarsh West prison valued at £415m” 5 July 2010]
51
The status of each prison building or site closed since 2010 was set out in response
to a PQ in January 2016 [PQ 19421 of 12 January 2016].
52
MoJ, Prisons competition and capacity announcement, 13 July 2011
53
MoJ, 2500 more prison spaces, 29 March 2012
54
See also MoJ press release, Closure of HMP Wellingborough, 17 July 2012. The
closure of Wellingborough prison was the subject of an adjournment debate in
November 2013: HC Deb 18 November 2013 c1052-64

Number 05646, 12 February 2016 20
closure would save around £10 million a year in running costs and £50
million a year in refurbishment costs. 55
In September 2012, in a response to a Parliamentary Question, the then
Justice Minister, Jeremy Wright, set out, among other things, the
changes in prison capacity, population and vacancies between May
2010 and August 2012. 56
Prison capacity: statements in January 2013,
September 2013 and November 2013
In January 2013, the MoJ outlined its strategy for prison estate capacity,
announcing its intention to
• build a 2,000 capacity prison and
• expand the capacity of four existing prisons by building four new
“houseblocks”, providing around 1,260 extra places.
The MoJ also said it was planning to
• close six “smaller, older and more expensive” prisons 57 and parts
of three others, 58 reducing capacity by around 2,600 places, and
• convert an existing young offender’s institution into an adult
prison.
The MoJ said the changes were part of their “drive to build new
capacity to replace older prisons and so bring down the cost of
operating the prison system” and that the measures were “expected to
save £63 million a year”.
Outlining the MoJ’s strategy, the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State
for Justice at the time, Chris Grayling, spoke in terms of “best value for
money for the taxpayer”:
My intention is to have more adult male prison capacity available
than we had in 2010 but at a much lower unit and overall cost.
Our strategy for achieving this is to replace accommodation which
is old, inefficient or has limited long-term strategic value with
cheaper modern capacity which is designed to better meet the
demand for prison places and supports our aim to drive down
stubbornly high reoffending rates. 59
Although it “cautiously” welcomed the closure of six older prisons, the
Howard League for Penal Reform said the plans to build a new 2,000
capacity prison were a “titanic waste of money that will do nothing to
cut crime”. It argued that the MoJ should continue to focus on
reducing prisoner numbers. 60
The Prison Reform Trust were also critical of the plans for a new 2,000
capacity prison, commenting that “it would be a gigantic mistake if the
Justice Secretary were to revive the discredited idea of Titans and pour
taxpayers' money down the prison building drain” and that “small
55
HC Deb 17 July 2012 c131WS
56
HC Deb 11 Sep 2012 c192W
57
Bullwood Hall, Canterbury, Gloucester, Kingston, Shepton Mallet and Shrewsbury
58
Chelmsford, Hull and Isle of Wight
59
HC Deb 10 January c22WS
60
Howard League for Penal Reform, Building Britain’s biggest prison will be a titanic
waste of money, 10 January 2013

21 Building prisons in England and Wales: the bigger, the better?
community prisons tend to be safer and better at reducing reoffending
than huge anonymous establishments”. 61
Chris Grayling made a further statement in September 2013, in which
he again said that the prison estate would have enough places to
accommodate those sent by the courts, but costs and reoffending rates
must be reduced. He announced the site of the new prison in Wales at
Wrexham, the closure of Blundeston, Dorchester, Northallerton and
Reading prisons and a review of the future of the prison at Dartmoor
and pointed to the expected reduction in costs:
These changes form part of our overall plans that will reduce
prison costs by over £500 million within this spending review
period. 62
A reply to a PQ in November 2013 (in which Jeremy Wright reiterated
that the estate had to be modernised) identified those prisons which
had increased their operational capacity since September 2013:
Prisons that have increased their operational capacity since 4
September 2013
Prison
Operational
capacity at
30 August
2013
Total increase
in places
since 4
September
2013
Operational
capacity at
25 October
2013
Date of
increase
Bristol 614 25 639 25 October
2013
Bure 523 101 624 Between 27
September
2013 and 25
October 2013
Gartree 707 1 708 6 September
2013
Nottingham 1,060 40 1,100 25 October
2013
Portland 530 90 620 25 October
2013
Rochester 658 4 662 20 September
2013
Swansea 435 10 445 25 October
2013
Source: HC Deb 6 November 2013 cc260-2W
61
Prison Reform Trust, Government plans for prison building and closures, 10 January
2013
62
HC Deb 4 September 2013 c24WS

Number 05646, 12 February 2016 22
5.3 June 2013 new prison announcement
On 27 June 2013, the MoJ confirmed that it was planning to build a
new prison in North Wales with a capacity of around 2,000 prisoners,
which it expected to be fully operational by late 2017. 63
Reacting to the announcement, the Howard League for Penal Reform
said “the idea that big is beautiful with prisons is wrong. Not our
words, but those of David Cameron before he became Prime Minister.
This U-turn on pouring cash into a huge unwieldy prison is a titanic
waste of money that puts public safety at risk”. 64
63
MoJ, New prison creates major boost to Welsh economy, 27 June 2013
64
Howard League for Penal Reform, Prison U-turn is a titanic waste, 27 June 2013

23 Building prisons in England and Wales: the bigger, the better?
6. The “Titan” prison proposals
In his review of prisons for the Labour Government, Lord Carter of Coles
recommended that, over and above the expansion of the prison estate
already planned and in train, the Prison Service should provide a further
6,500 places to increase capacity by 2012. A large “Titan” 65 prison
should be part of this and another two Titan prisons should be provided
as part of the modernisation of the prison estate, to remove
inefficiencies. 66
Lord Carter set out his vision of what a Titan prison would be. Amongst
other things, each (he said) would:
• provide up to 2,500 places in five units of approximately 500
offenders
• draw on the best practice in the existing estate, with regime and
facilities which would provide purposeful activities, such as
employment and training, for prisoners and
• be cost-effective, delivering cost savings during both construction
and operation.
The opening of Titan prisons would, Lord Carter suggested, permit the
Prison Service to close old and inefficient prisons, thus making savings in
the cost of maintenance and even bringing in revenue through the sale
of defunct and decrepit prisons. Lord Carter identified some potential
difficulties in running a prison on such a scale, but was not deterred,
remarking that some existing prisons or clusters of prisons ─ such as the
Isle of Sheppey Cluster, whose operating capacity was soon to rise to at
least 2,400 places ─ were almost of Titanic size. 67
On the day of the publication of the Carter report, the then Justice
Secretary, Jack Straw, announced that, along with other measures to
increase the size of the prison estate, he had accepted the
recommendation to build up to three Titan prisons. 68 A month later, in
January 2008, the then Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, stated that the
Titan prisons would go ahead after the Justice Secretary’s consultation,
thereby implying that the consultation would be about the detail rather
than the principle. 69
6.1 Views from penal experts and Parliament
The concept of Titan prisons attracted a lot of criticism – the PRT, for
example, calling it a “gigantic mistake”.
65
In Greek myth, the Titans were deities, the 12 children of Gaia and Uranus and their
offspring. Myth records that Kronos, one of the sons of Gaia and Uranus, ate his
children and the Titans also killed and ate Zeus’s infant son, Dionysus. The Titans were
eventually overthrown by the Olympians.
66
Securing the Future: Proposals for the efficient and sustainable use of custody in
England and Wales (Lord Carter’s Review of Prisons), December 2007: Executive
summary: page 2
67
Ibid: pages 38-9
68
HC Deb 5 December 2007 cc827-8
69
HC Deb 30 January 2008 c312

Number 05646, 12 February 2016 24
The Prison Reform Trust suggested that Lord Carter’s recommendation
for Titans was fixed early in the review, if not actually pre-determined,
and the Government had decided to proceed with Titan prisons and
then found post hoc reasons for them, varying from the urgent need for
prison accommodation and modernisation of the prison system to
rehabilitation. The president of the Prison Governors’ Association (PGA)
was quoted as saying that the PGA had not been consulted about Titans
and, indeed, these had been “the biggest rabbit that came out of the
hat on the day the Carter [report] was announced”. 70
In giving evidence to the Justice Committee’s enquiry into effective
sentencing, Anne Owers, at that time HM chief inspector of prisons,
cast doubt on the case for Titan prisons. She agreed that more prison
places were needed, but suggested that, on measures of safety, respect,
purposeful activity and resettlement, smaller prisons were more
effective. This was not, she said, entirely attributable to the age of the
large inner-city prisons, which are in many cases of the Victorian radial
design (itself derived from Jeremy Bentham’s panopticon design of the
late 18th century).
The size of the prison, she suggested, could create a harmful culture:
Victorian radial prisons are not the worst prisons in the world to
run or to be in. Some of the prisons knocked up in the 1970s are
much more difficult to run and much worse places to be in. It is
because of the culture that can develop in those very large
institutions and which can affect very much the way they work.
That has certainly been the pattern in some of the large, inner-city
locals. 71
In its report Towards effective sentencing, the Justice Committee noted
that Jack Straw had previously said that the Government could not build
its way out of a prisons crisis. 72
The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), established by the former
Conservative party leader Iain Duncan Smith, was similarly critical. In its
report Locked Up Potential, the CSJ argued that Titan prisons were
more likely than smaller prisons, closer to prisoners’ homes, to be
unsafe and to require the use of force to control prisoners. Smaller
prisons, on the other hand, were more likely to be effective in
rehabilitating prisoners and reducing re-offending. 73
Locked Up Potential drew together some of the criticism of Titan prisons
from parliamentarians, penal experts and pressure groups:
Clive Martin, Director of voluntary sector umbrella body
organisation Clinks, offers this concise critique of the model:
The resettlement issues that will arise out of building Titan jails –
including such basic things as location and distance from inmates’
home area, whom the jails hold, and what they seek to achieve –
70
Prison Reform Trust, Titan prisons: A gigantic mistake, August 2008: page 3
71
Anne Owers in Justice Committee, Towards effective sentencing, 22 July 2008, HC
184-ii 2007-08: Q375-77
72
Justice Committee, Towards effective sentencing, 22 July 2008, HC 184 2007-08:
page 15
73
Centre for Social Justice, Press Release: Scrap £1.3 billion Titan prison building
programme and invest in smaller prisons, says new report, 23 March 2009

25 Building prisons in England and Wales: the bigger, the better?
have undergone little or no discussion. They will be built miles
from the services that prisoners need to access upon release, and
the prisoners in them (like the prisoners in most jails) will have to
rely on redundant communication methods that will make services
even more difficult to access…It is hard to believe that if we, as a
society, really took the National Offender Management System’s
aim of rehabilitation seriously we would still build such prisons…
(...)
One only has to look at the latest Inspectorate report to see that
smaller prisons are far more desirable and are proven to work
better. HMCIP notes:
Evidence shows that small prisons perform better than large ones.
This year’s inspections show that large prisons are more likely to
be unsafe and to need to rely more on force. More in-depth
research … shows that taking into account other variables, size is
the most influential predictor of performance against the tests of
safety and respect and overall that resettlement is best provided in
prisons close to home. These findings should underpin planning
for the future of the prison estate. They reinforce concerns about
the proposed huge Titan prisons and support the approach taken
in the Corston report for smaller custodial settings where needed.
The PRT briefing noted above, Titan Prisons: a gigantic mistake,
also cites powerful survey evidence as to the superiority of smaller
prisons over larger prisons. Using unpublished Inspectorate data
the PRT found that of the 154 prisons surveyed during 2006/07,
large institutions were significantly less effective at ‘meeting
prisoners needs and creating a healthy prison environment’.
In two-thirds of the factors compared (102 out of 154) smaller
prisons scored significantly better than large ones. In 38 of the
102 areas, the disparity exceeded ten percentage points. For 19 of
the 24 factors concerning safety, small local prisons scored
significantly better. For resettlement, small locals were better for
18 out of 28 compared and were worse for only one.
The report also cited the experience of France, where Europe’s
largest prison – Fleury-Merogis – holds 3,600 prisoners. The
French government was said to have decided against any more
such prisons, in favour of smaller prisons holding 600 to 700
prisoners. 74
In an article for Criminal Justice Matters, Andrew Coyle (professor of
Prison Studies at King’s College London and a former prison governor)
remarked that Lord Carter’s approach had been to focus on making
existing practices more efficient, rather than questioning the practices
themselves. Yet, he suggested, it had already been acknowledged that
the apparently unstoppable rise in the prison population had to be
halted at some point. 75 Professor Coyle noted that the construction
companies who build prisons, perhaps motivated by commercial
interest, argued that “big is beautiful” but, if rehabilitation was the aim,
then prisoners ought to be held in smaller prisons closer to their homes
and sources of support.
74
Centre for Social Justice, Locked Up Potential, March 2009: pages 97-9
75
Andrew Coyle 'Taking Gods' name in vain: Carter mark 3', Criminal Justice Matters,
71: 1, 2008: pages 20-1

Number 05646, 12 February 2016 26
In its report on justice reinvestment - Cutting Crime: The Case for
Justice Reinvestment, published after the plans for Titan prisons had
been abandoned - the Justice Committee argued that this was the right
moment to adopt a fresh approach to the use of imprisonment. 76 The
Committee had not been convinced of the rationale for Titan prisons,
describing Lord Caret’s report as “light on evidence and deeply flawed”.
Nor was it greatly in favour of the proposed alternative - five prisons
each holding 1,500 prisoners - suggesting that this step still went “a
long way in the wrong direction”. 77
In its commitment to Titan prisons and then to their 1,500-place
successors, the Government was (in the Committee’s view) too focused
on short term efficiencies and cost savings and had lost sight of the
broader aims of the criminal justice system. The Committee argued:
[P]rison building on this scale will prove a costly mistake. It will
preclude movement towards a more effective community prisons
model and may limit this and any future government’s willingness
and capacity to reinvest in creative measures to reduce the overall
prison population in the future. 78
6.2 Ministry of Justice consultation and the
demise of Titan prisons
A consultation paper, Titan Prisons, was published in June 2008. 79 The
summary of responses was published by the MoJ in April 2009. With it
came the announcement that there would be no Titan prisons. The
stated reasons overlapped with the potential difficulties identified by
Lord Carter, the Prison Reform Trust and others:
We have (...) come to the conclusion that the additional risk,
novelty and complexity involved in building 2,500 place prisons is
likely to increase the cost. In addition we believe they are unlikely
to provide the correct environment in which to rehabilitate
offenders. 80
It has, though, been suggested by some commentators that the MoJ’s
volte face was in fact attributable to the recession and concerns about
the difficulties in obtaining planning consents in the face of what was
likely to be strong local opposition. 81
In announcing (with some apparent reluctance) the demise of Titan
prisons, Jack Straw said that the Government intended instead to build
five prisons of up to 1,500 places: 82
I did see merit in Lord Carter’s proposals for 2,500-place prisons,
especially as they would have been complexes with four or five
distinct and separate regimes, but most of those whom we
consulted took a different view, and believed that the advantages
76
Justice Committee Cutting Crime: The Case for Justice Reinvestment 1 December
2009, HC 94, 2009-10: page 10
77
Ibid: pages 34-5
78
Ibid: page 36
79
MoJ, Consultation Paper CP10/08
80
MoJ, New Prisons Consultation Response, 27 April 2009, p3
81
Jon Collins ‘Prison expansion: back to the drawing board?’, Criminal Justice Matters,
76: 1, 2009: pages 8-9
82
HMP Wandsworth, for context, has an operational capacity of 1877.

27 Building prisons in England and Wales: the bigger, the better?
were far outweighed by the disadvantages. Not the least of those
of that view was Dame Anne Owers, Her Majesty’s chief inspector
of prisons.
Jack Straw then went on to describe the MoJ’s plans for two new
prisons (and abandoning of plans for a prison on a site in Warrington)
and other work to add to the capacity of the prison system. 83
83
HC Deb 27 April 2009, cc569-70

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BRIEFING PAPER
Number 05646, 12 February
2016
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