Building prisons in England and Wales the bigger the better?

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