“It will cost billions and it won’t work”: Howard League responds to government plan to speed up prison building 

The Howard League for Penal Reform has responded to the Ministry of Justice’s plan to speed up prison building across the country, announced today (Tuesday 1 September).

The government intends to create new cells inside existing prisons by converting unused office space, laundry rooms and storage areas. Ministers also plan to buy more land for new jails. Further details are expected when the Lord Chancellor Alex Norris, gives a statement in the House of Commons later.  

Andrea Coomber KC (Hon.), Chief Executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “The search for extra prison spaces has become so desperate that it involves looking high and low for office space, laundry rooms and storage areas – any nook or cranny that could help to inch the criminal justice system away from the brink.

“This is a chaotic way to run a country, but it is the inevitable result of decades of buck-passing as successive governments have made prison sentences longer and longer without any thought for the consequences. There aren’t enough staff to work in the jails we have already, but neighbourhoods up and down the country will now be wondering if an under-resourced and overstretched prison is about to be built on their doorstep. Creating more capacity without action to address sentence inflation will only make the problems bigger and harder to solve in the long run.

“In 2024, Shabana Mahmood, the then Lord Chancellor and now the Home Secretary, told the House of Commons that we cannot build our way out of this crisis. Two years later, Andy Burnham’s new government seems to be trying to do just that. It will cost billions and it won’t work. To cut crime and protect the public, the government should invest in what it knows will work – properly funding our communities, investing in probation, in education, mental health and drugs support, and building the economy.”  

Notes to editors 

1. The Howard League for Penal Reform is the oldest penal reform charity in the world. It is a national charity working for less crime, safer communities and fewer people in prison.
2. For more information about the prison overcrowding crisis, read the explainer article ‘Why are prisons overcrowded?’ on the Howard League website.
3. For more information about sentencing, read the explainer article ‘What is sentence inflation?’ on the Howard League website. 

Contact  

Noor Khan
Press and Public Affairs Officer
Tel: +44 (0)20 7241 7873
Email: [email protected]