Building prisons in England and Wales the bigger the better?

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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
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Building prisons in England and Wales the bigger the better?

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