Government ministers have signed a contract that will pave the way for a new prison in Lancashire, as pressure builds to tackle overcrowding in the prison estate.
Justice Secretary Alex Norris set out his plans to build hundreds of extra prison places with £110 million of investment.
As part of the announcement, the government has committed to the new 1,700-place prison in Lancashire.
Justice Secretary Mr Norris said: “This Government is serious about fixing the broken prison system we inherited, which is why we’ve already delivered more than 3,200 prison places in just two years.
“We’re now investing to boost these efforts further – getting spades in the ground quicker to deliver thousands more places to lock up dangerous criminals and keep the public safe.”
In March, plans for the so-called ‘super prison’ on the border of Leyland and Chorley were given key approvals.
It followed a four-year battle over plans to build a 1,715-inmate jail in Ulnes Walton, which ended at the High Court, with the judge deciding not to grant locals leave to appeal against the controversial development.
It means the combined jail population in the area will reach more than 3,700. HMPs Garth and Wymott are category B and C prisons, respectively.
The Ulnes Walton Action Group (UWAG), which spearheaded the attempt to derail the prison plans, said “Local democracy has been the loser”.
Over the weekend, Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced that the killers of Thames Valley police officer Andrew Harper will not be eligible for early release, following a backlash.
Mr Burnham initially resisted calls to limit the scheme further after it emerged that Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole, who were convicted of PC Harper’s manslaughter in 2020, would be eligible from next year.
Some offenders serving indefinite jail sentences, which were abolished in 2012, will also be freed through legislation to be brought forward by the end of this Parliament, the Prime Minister pledged.
Some 5,000 prisoners had been due to be released early from October under plans to ease jail overcrowding, down from 6,000 after ministers intervened to exempt rapists and “serious” child sex offenders.
Extra space in prisons is also set to be created by deporting foreign prisoners and releasing inmates who are serving indefinite sentences under imprisonment for public protection sentences (IPPs).
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But the changes to IPPs could take years to implement and will not be part of the initial measures to ease overcrowding.
Thames Valley’s chief constable Jason Hogg warned on Monday that having to tag and monitor prisoners granted early release would be “difficult” for forces across the country.
He said: “The police haven’t received any additional funding for this additional work, so I’m going to be having to move resources away from one area of business to another to seek out, arrest, and bring before the court individuals who don’t follow the restrictions that they will be set.
“For example, their tagging restrictions. We don’t quite know what the demand will be on that, but I think it’ll be reasonably high, so it’s definitely more work for us.”
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