The prison population was 87,538 people at the end of January 2024, with many adult male prisoners being held in cells designed for fewer occupants. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) committed to providing 20,000 additional prison places by the mid-2020s, deriving from a combination of six new prisons, expanding existing prisons, and temporary accommodation.
The Committee’s 2020 report on improving the prison estate found that Prison Service had been operating hand to mouth, by reacting to immediate crises rather than developing a long-term strategy for the prison estate, with just 206 new prison places have been delivered out of 10,000 promised by the year of the report. It further warned that many prisons were crowded, unsafe and with dangerously high levels of violence and self-harm, while the MoJ had failed to protect taxpayers’ interests through its naïve approach to the outsourcing of facilities management services.
The National Audit Office’s (NAO) report on increasing the capacity of the prison estate to meet demand considers progress in the planned expansion of the prison estate and oversight and management of recent pressures on prison capacity. It also looks at how Government is modelling, understanding and planning for the number and type of prison places it needs.
Based on the NAO’s report, the Committee will hear from senior MoJ and HMPPS officials on subjects including work to increase capacity, and long-term strategy to deliver a prison estate that is fit for the future.
Please look at the requirements for written evidence submissions and note that the Committee cannot accept material as evidence that is published elsewhere.