Government plans for super-jails under fire

The government’s decision to build three “Titan prisons” as part of its programme to increase jail capacity by more than 10,000 places is flawed, stakeholders say.

In his report on the prison system, Securing the Future: Proposals for the Efficient and Sustainable Use of Custody in England and Wales, Lord Carter calls for ministers to obtain planning permission for the jails—each holding about 2,500 inmates—before demand for prison places outstrips the rate of supply.

There will be a shortage of prison places of up to 3,000 by next summer and up to 6,000 in 2009, the report says.
There is a “compelling financial case” for building Titan jails—in London, the West Midlands and the North West—so that up to 5,000 places in Victorian prisons could be closed down, he says.

Justice secretary Jack Straw says he has secured an extra £1.2bn for a building programme which will see the capacity of jails in England and Wales increase to 96,000 by 2014.
Probation officer Julian Broadhead questions why large sums of money are to be thrown at the effects rather than the causes of the prison problem.
He says: “Once again, the government is looking across the Atlantic instead of to Europe for its influences. It has lost sight of one of the main aims of imprisonment—rehabilitation. One thing is certain. However many places are created, they will be filled.”

Harry Fletcher, assistant general secretary of the National Association of Probation Officers, says the decision to build the mammoth prisons goes against previous advice, which has been for smaller units close to where prisoners live.
Lord Carter also recommends a structured sentencing framework and the creation of a permanent Sentencing Commission “to improve the transparency, predictability and consistency of sentencing and the criminal justice system”.

The lord chief justice, Lord Phillips, says: “I hope it may prove possible to have a debate about Lord Carter’s proposals for a possible Sentencing Commission that is not politically controversial.”

Meanwhile, Straw has announ-ced a change to indeterminate sentences for public protection (IPPs) so they only apply to prisoners given a minimum tariff of two years in jail.
IPPs—introduced four years ago—have caused a bottleneck in the prison system because prisoners handed such terms by the courts with a short tariff are often unable to complete the courses required to win parole.