§ 43. Mr. TredinnickTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many additional prison places have become available since 1979; how many additional places are expected to be provided this year; and how many additional places are expected to become available in the foreseeable future.
§ Mr. Douglas HoggSince 1979 more than 6,000 new places have been added to the prison estate, over half of which have been provided at the eight new prisons which have opened since 1985. The first phase of a new prison for 350 prisoners has recently opened in converted buildings at Banstead in Surrey, and by the end of the financial year it is planned that a total of nearly 2,000 new places will have been added to the estate.
Through a combination of more new prisons, additions to existing prisons and redevelopment and place producing schemes, about 17,000 new places will also be delivered between the end of this financial year and the mid-1990s. By that time a total of about 25,000 places will have been added to the system.