February 1, 2008: First New Public Prison In A Decade
The first prison to be built under the new prison building scheme is being
officially opened today by Prisons Minister the Rt. Hon David Hanson MP.
He opened HMP Kennet in Merseyside, the first public prison in a decade,
which took its first offender six months ago, and is now operating at a
capacity that can hold up to 342 prisoners. HMP Kennet is a Category C male
prison. Since July 2007 HMP Kennet has been taking prisoners and reached
operating capacity by the end of 2007.
The Minister also visited the privately run prison HMP Altcourse to see a
new block for 180 prisoners. HMP Altcourse is Category B local prison for
young offenders and adult male prisoners. It was the first PFI [private
finance initiative] prison, opening in December 1997 and is run by GSL UK
Limited.
David Hanson said:
'I am delighted to open HMP Kennet today and see the building programme
progressing not only through new prisons but in additional capacity at
prisons across England and Wales.
'In response to Lord Carter's review in December, we announced a further
10,500 places on top of the 9,500 already confirmed. This includes up to
three Titans as recommended by Lord Carter. Since 1997 the government has
increased prison capacity by more than 20,000 places.
'It is vital we ensure there are prison places for those serious and
dangerous offenders who ought to be in prison and as can be seen here we are
delivering on that commitment. But we must equally ensure that courts have
tough community sentences at their disposal to deal with less serious,
non-violent offenders.
'There are people in prison who ought not to be there, including those with
mental health issues and vulnerable women. We are looking closely at how we
use prison so we can focus our resources where they can be most effective,
ensuring that we properly protect the public from dangerous individuals,
rehabilitate offenders and reduce reoffending.'
The Minister's visit follows the Justice Secretary Jack Straw's visit to HMP
Wandsworth yesterday where he announced a package of measures to tackle
reoffending and address some of the concerns at the heart of the criminal
justice debate.
Lord Carter of Coles published his review into prisons and sentences on 5
December 2007 and the government announced its aim to achieve an overall net
capacity of just over 96,000 by 2014. This increase in capacity gives the
government an opportunity to modernise the estate and close 5,000 old
inefficient prison places.
The government committed £1.2 billion to cover the capital and running costs
of additional prison places coming on stream in the next spending review
period, as well as funding for offenders to be managed in the community..
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