§ 17. Mr. William Hamiltonasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has for the sale of out-of-date prisons and the building of new maximum security establishments with the funds realised from such sales.
§ Mr. CallaghanThis idea has been considered many times. Even with legislation to revise the out-of-date valuations imposed by the Prison Act, 1877, the sale price of existing sites would fall far short of the cost of providing new prisons. But with nearly one-third of all prisoners now having to share cells it is not possible to give up any existing usable accommodation.
§ Mr. HamiltonIs my right hon. Friend aware that my supplementary question is about to be based on some of the information that he has just given? What would be the increased cost of extra prison accommodation to overcome the problem of overcrowding which is fairly widespread throughout all prisons in the United Kingdom?
§ Mr. CallaghanI cannot give that figure offhand. If I was asked to sell the sites and rebuild all the prisons, I think that the extra cost would probably be about £100 million. That is what makes the proposal put forward by the Leader of the Opposition so hopelessly unrealistic.
§ Mr. HoggWithout intervening on the snide remark which fell last from the right hon. Gentleman, may I ask him whether the Government will consider amending 1562 the 1877 Act which makes the sites in question the reversionary property of the local authorities, not of the central Government? Have they considered that possibility?
§ Mr. CallaghanI am sorry that the right hon. and learned Gentleman thought that a snide remark. I thought that the Leader of the Opposition put it forward in good faith. I was replying in a similar way, but saying that it was a completely impracticable idea.
I have no proposals for amending the 1877 Act, because I think that parliamentary time could be better spent on other matters which are likely to be of more immediate practical effect.