Building prisons in England and Wales the bigger the better?

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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
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