We cannot build our way out of the prison capacity crisis: Howard League responds to NAO report

The Howard League for Penal Reform has responded to the National Audit Office (NAO) report, Increasing the capacity of the prison estate to meet demand, published today (Wednesday 4 December).

The report states that a commitment, made by the previous government in 2021, to create 20,000 additional prison places by the mid-2020s, was “unrealistic and not prioritised”. It concludes that the plans will not be delivered until 2031, will cost far more than estimated, and will be insufficient to meet the rising demand for places projected by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).

The NAO says that the MoJ and HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) now expect the prison expansion plans to cost between £9.4bn and £10.1bn, which will be at least £4.2bn more than previous estimates stated in 2021.

Andrea Coomber KC (Hon.), Chief Executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “This scathing report underlines a fact that the new government has recognised – we cannot build our way out of the prison capacity crisis. Finding a solution is not simply a matter of supply; we have to reduce demand on a system that has been asked to do too much, with too little, for too long.

“When the prison system gets bigger, the problems within it get bigger, becoming harder to solve. The billions of pounds earmarked for building new prisons would be better invested in securing an effective and responsive probation service, working to cut crime in the community. And it makes no sense to build more jails when the ones we already have are understaffed, falling apart, and failing to help people to move on from crime.”

The report emphasises that the current crisis is a consequence of previous governments’ failure to align criminal justice policies with funding for the prison estate, leading to reactive solutions which represent poor value for money. Introducing tougher sentences led to steep increases in expected demand for prison places, while years of under‑investment put MoJ and HMPPS in a weak position to respond to these increases.

The NAO stresses in its analysis that until there is greater coherence between the government’s wider policy agenda and funding for its prison estate, the current crisis position will not represent value for money.

The report adds that there will be a continued risk to capacity in prisons, because so many jails are in poor condition. A quarter of prison places – 23,000 – do not meet fire safety standards and HMPPS’s backlog of maintenance works has doubled to £1.8bn in the last four years.

The MoJ is expected to publish new prison population projection figures later this week.

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 crumbling infrastructure in the prison estate, read this May 2024 blogpost published on the Howard League website: https://howardleague.org/blog/rats-flies-and-crumbling-walls-the-physical-state-of-prisons-is-getting-worse/
3. For more information about prison overcrowding, read ‘Why are prisons overcrowded?’, a dedicated explainer page on the Howard League website: https://howardleague.org/why-are-prisons-overcrowded/
4. Increasing the capacity of the prison estate to meet demand, will be available from 4 December 2024 on the NAO website at: nao.org.uk

Contact

Noor Khan
Press and Public Affairs Officer
Tel: +44 (0)20 7241 7873
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