Building prisons in England and Wales the bigger the better?

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