It noted that prisoners are being held in unsafe, crowded conditions. Moreover, giving evidence to PAC about the female prison estate, the MoJ was ‘unable to answer basic questions’ or ‘demonstrate that conditions in these prisons are adequate for the needs and safety of prisoners’.
According to PAC, ‘the Ministry has once again exposed taxpayers to higher than expected costs as a result of inadequate planning, unrealistic assumptions and poor performance while managing facilities within prisons’. It predicted demand for prison places could outstrip supply by 2022-23.
Meg Hillier MP, chair of PAC, called on ministers to produce ‘a credible new plan’.
An MoJ spokesperson said: ‘We are investing £2.75bn to modernise the prison estate and deliver 10,000 new prison places―strengthening security and boosting rehabilitation.
‘Work is already underway on two modern prisons at Glen Parva and Wellingborough which will create 3,360 new places over the next three years. We also want to see fewer women go to prison in the first place, which is why we have invested in community services that support vulnerable offenders to turn their lives around and are trialling Residential Women’s Centres as an alternative to custody.’
On maintenance, the MoJ spokesperson highlighted that contractor performance had improved over the past year and was being ‘robustly monitored’.
View the report at: https://bit.ly/32q9ufs.
