Call for freeze on new prisons

Calls have been made to put a freeze on the building of new prisons
12 April 2012

Justice Secretary Ken Clarke has come under pressure to put a freeze on the building of new prisons and stop the record-level jail population rising further.

Under the previous government, over-crowding meant more than 80,000 prisoners were let out under an early release scheme which ended in March.

Despite this, the prison population hit record levels, reaching 85,076 in April, and the Conservatives pledged in their manifesto to increase jail capacity.

The Prison Reform Trust (PRT) said that each new prison place would cost £170,000 to build and maintain.

Director of the PRT Juliet Lyon said: "The current growth in prison numbers is unsustainable. A moratorium on prison-building would be a first step in reversing the disastrous legacy of the past two decades which has seen the prison population almost double, while rates of reoffending have rocketed.

"A measured, evidence-based approach to justice would deliver the prize of increasing public safety while at the same time reducing the cost burden imposed by over-use of imprisonment."

The charity said that prisons have been overcrowded since 1994, with nearly a quarter of criminals sharing a cell designed for one person between April 2008 and February 2009.

In the run-up to the election, the Tories said they would increase prison capacity to avoid the need for any early release scheme and would deport foreign prisoners earlier to save space.

The manifesto said: "In the last three years, 80,000 criminals have been released early from prison because the Government failed to build enough places. We are determined that early release will not be introduced again, so we will redevelop the prison estate and increase capacity as necessary to stop it."

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