- £110m to accelerate construction of prison places alongside
investment to secure new land for prisons of future
- Government signs contract to kickstart works on new 1,700
place jail in latest step in prison building boom
- Extra £18.9m for specialist victim support services
The largest prison building programme since the Victorian era
will be accelerated through a £110m investment announced by the
Lord Chancellor today (1 September).
The cash will go towards speeding up the construction of hundreds
of prison places, as part of Government plans to add 14,000 extra
spaces by 2031 to lock up dangerous criminals and keep the public
safe.
It will see existing space within prisons converted into cells to
deliver much needed capacity - including through unused office
space, laundry rooms and storage areas.
Ministers have also confirmed there will be investment to
purchase new land to secure potential sites for future
prisons and build a credible pipeline to enable more prison
building in the future.
Today's news comes as the Government have signed a contract
paving the way for the first phase of works to begin on a new
1,700 place prison in Lancashire.
This is the latest step in decisive action to ensure the country
never again faces the nightmare of running out of prison
spaces.
Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary said:
This Government is serious about fixing the broken prison system
we inherited, which is why we've already delivered more than
3,200 prison places in just two years.
We're now investing to boost these efforts further getting spades
in the ground quicker to deliver thousands more places to lock up
dangerous criminals and keep the public safe.
The Lord Chancellor will today update Parliament, setting out
changes to upcoming sentencing reforms which will block hundreds
more dangerous offenders from earlier release.
The measures also include plans to remove foreign national
offenders more quickly, and end the historic injustice of
Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences in a way that
balances fairness and public safety.
The Justice Secretary will also confirm an extra £18.9 million
investment into vital services for victims, providing the
specialist emotional and practical support needed to help them
move on with their lives. This is on top of a record £550 million
already announced by Government to bolster this important support
over the next three years.
Notes to Editors:
- The £110m has been fast-tracked from existing budgets so
Government can deliver prison places more quickly, including
turning existing spaces inside prisons into cells. The £18.9
million investment into vital services for victims is also
reprioritised from existing budgets.
- Under this Government, we're spending more than three times
as much on building new prisons as was spent over the previous
seven years.
