The country’s prisons will still run out of space despite Government plans to build four more jails, the Justice Secretary has said.
Shabana Mahmood also suggested councils could be overruled to push through the building plans in a bid to grip the overcrowding crisis.
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has promised to find a total of 14,000 cell spaces in jails by 2031.
Some 6,400 of these will be at newly built prisons, with £2.3 billion towards the cost over the next two years.
The remaining places will be found by measures including building new wings at existing jails, or by refurbishing cells currently out of action, and an extra £500 million will go towards “vital building maintenance”, the department said on Wednesday.
Asked whether the estate would run out of cells within three years, even with 14,000 extra places, the Justice Secretary told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We will run out because even all of that new supply, with the increase in prison population that we will see as a result of that new supply, doesn’t help you with the rise in demand, because demand is still rising faster than any supply could catch up with.”
Stressing that “building alone” will not be enough to deal with the overcrowding crisis, Ms Mahmood also confirmed “we will have to expand the range of punishment outside of prison”, adding: “That does mean that we will have more offenders monitored outside.”
Prisons will be deemed sites of “national importance” amid efforts to prevent lengthy planning delays, with Ms Mahood saying decisions on new prison building will be made by Deputy Prime Minster Angela Rayner, who is the Housing Secretary.
Asked whether the Government would “fast-track applications and overrule the objections of local people and local councils”, Ms Mahood told BBC Breakfast: “Yes, so our manifesto commitment was that we consider prisons to be of national importance.
“These are critical infrastructure projects, they are absolutely necessary to make sure the country doesn’t run out of prison places.”
Asked about concerns people may have about a prison being built near their homes, she said: “We have to be honest about the fact that prison building is required.”
