§ Baroness Davidasked Her Majesty's Government:
Which new prisons have been opened or reopened since 1995; how many places there are in each; and what are the capital and running costs of each. [HL3063]
11WA
§ Lord Williams of MostynThe table lists those prisons which have opened or reopened since 1995. In each case, the prison's opening date, current number of places, capital costs and net operating costs in 1997–98 have also been shown.
Prisons Opened or Reopened since 1995 Prison1 Date opened Current number of places Capital costs (£m) Net operating costs 1997–98 (£000) Altcourse December 1997 600 88 — Colchester2 February 1997 32 nil 913 Eastwood Park March 1996 255 14 4,454 Foston Hall August 1997 150 4 2,999 Lowdham Grange February 1998 500 32 — Parc November 1997 800 75 — Weare June 1997 400 13 5,822 1 These prisons were newly opened, with the exception of Eastwood Park, which was closed as a male establishment and then reopened to house females in March 1996; and Foston Hall, which was formerly part of Sudbury male prison and has now been reopened as a female prison. 2 Colchester was open for a period of 14 months as a pilot scheme for young offenders. The prison closed at the end of March 1998. 3 The capital costs given for the newly opened DCMF prisons are the project costs. These include capital expenditure before the prisons' opening and consist mainly of construction costs. Operating costs for these three establishments in 1997–98 are unavailable due to the short period during which they have been open. The cost of building and running each prison is borne by the prisons' operating company, who are repaid annually by the Prison Service over the lifetime of the contract. This annual fee is in the order of £26 million for Altcourse, £25 million for Parc and £13 million for Lowdham Grange.