Men’s prisons in England and Wales could run out of space later this year, the government has warned, as it announced three new jails worth £4.7bn will be built starting this year.
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood revealed the expansion plans in Downing Street alongside Amy Rees, the outgoing chief executive of His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS).
Ms Rees outlined how the male prison population was at 99% capacity and set to run out of room in November.
Politics latest: Recall conditions changed for some prisoners
She highlighted issues like longer average sentences and not enough new prison capacity as contributing factors to the crisis.
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A high number of criminals being recalled to custody was also noted. Repeating previous schemes to release people earlier in their sentences would “only buy us time”, Ms Rees said.
Ms Mahmood went on to criticise the Conservatives, saying the situation the UK found itself in was “shameful”.
She claimed Labour added 28,000 places under Sir Tony Blair and Gordon Brown’s governments, while the 14 years of Tory-rule after that only saw 500 new places.
The justice secretary then confirmed that £4.7bn would be invested to build new prisons. The announcement comes ahead of the spending review and Ms Mahmood says it will allow three penitentiaries to start construction.
Ms Mahmood said last year that £2.3bn would be spent on prisons, meaning a total of £7bn has been announced by the new government.
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The three new prisons are the same as those announced last year, and alongside HMP Millsike which has already opened.
To relieve the pressure on prisons in the interim, the government said it was going to limit recall conditions for some inmates.
This includes prisoners serving up to four years only being subject to recall periods of 28 days, although repeat offenders and those at higher risk will not be eligible for the limit.
The plans come after the government’s controversial early release scheme last year, which saw some inmates freed after serving only 40% of their sentences, rather than the usual 50%.
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Meanwhile, the latest weekly statistics for England and Wales showed the prison population stood at 88,087.
The figure is 434 below the last peak in the prison population of 88,521 inmates on 6 September 2024 – just before the early release scheme began.
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