The government is to close six prisons in England and parts of three others, with a capacity of at least 2,200, within three months, the Ministry of Justice said Thursday.
But it will build new blocks at four existing prisons, with a total capacity of 1,260, and also start a feasibility study on building a new prison that would be Britain’s biggest, holding more than 2,000 people.
The “smaller, older and more expensive prisons” will be shut by April 5 — the end of the financial year — as part of a drive to bring down costs that aims to save £63 million a year, the ministry said in a statement.
The prisons to close are Bullwood Hall in Essex, Canterbury in Kent, Gloucester, Kingston in Portsmouth, Hampshire, Shepton Mallet in Somerset and Shrewsbury, Shropshire.
Camp Hill on the Isle of Wight — a 595-capacity jail that was once a separate facility and is now part of a combined prison — will also shut.
The capacity of these totals 2,194 places, according to ministry figures, with some of the buildings dating back to the 1800s.
Prisons at Chelmsford and Hull, which have a combined capacity of 1,754, will also be partially closed, though the ministry could not provide figures for how many inmate places would be affected.
The new jail, dubbed a “super-prison” by media, would hold more than 2,000 people if it goes ahead, the ministry said.
The “current intention” is also to build new houseblocks at HMPs Parc in South Wales, Peterborough in Cambridgeshire, The Mount in Hertfordshire and Thameside in London, with total capacity for 1,260 prisoners.
Justice Secretary Chris Grayling said: “We have to bring down the cost of our prison system, much of which is old and expensive.
“But I never want the courts to be in a position where they cannot send a criminal to prison because there is no place available, so we have to move as fast as we can to replace the older parts of our prison system.”
The new prison, dubbed a “super-prison” by media, may be in London, the northwest or North Wales. The previous Labour government had floated plans for three 2,500-capacity “Titan” jails but these were scrapped in 2009.
Shadow justice secretary Sadiq Khan said there were “no replacement places guaranteed in the short term” for the closures announced.
He said: “The public will want reassurance that there’s enough prison places over the coming years to keep safely behind bars those found guilty of serious crimes, and that enough is being done to rehabilitate and reform prisoners to stop them re-offending.”
Some 83,632 inmates were behind bars in England and Wales last Friday, the ministry said in its latest update — down from a record high of 88,179 after the summer riots of 2011.
Ministry forecasts show the population could reach 90,900 by 2018, with current total prison capacity at 90,451.
Government to close six prisons
