§ Sir John WheelerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proposals he has to reduce overcrowding in prisons; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. WaddingtonThe Government are tackling the problem of overcrowding by policies designed to ensure that imprisonment is not used in the case of persons who can be adequately punished in the community, and by a massive prison building programme. On 13 July there were 45,483 people in prison or temporarily held in police cells. This is the lowest July figure since 1984.
Under the prison building programme, eight prisons have been completed since 1979, and 12 are under construction, with more planned to follow. Between now and March 1992 the programme will produce over 5,000 new places, and this figure will rise to nearly 7,000 by March 1993. The new establishments are being built to a high standard, and places in them will have integral sanitation; and with their completion, the number of 469W places available to the prison service of category B standard will rise by one third. Over 5,000 of the new places will be used for prisoners in local prisons or remand centres, thus relieving directly the areas of greatest pressure.
There is also a substantial programme of projects producing places at existing establishments. Over the next three years 3,000 places with integral sanitation will come into use at existing establishments. About half these places will be in local establishments.
I concluded towards the end of last year that the distribution of the prison estate needed attention. In particular, with the welcome fall in the young offender population, young offender accommodation was not full, while the adult system remained under considerable strain. A review has been carried out of the prison estate as a whole with the aim of providing the necessary places through the most cost-effective and efficient mix of establishments, in particular by examining what scope and options exist for changes and adjustments to the young offender estate and to the role of establishments in order to bring planned capacity and expected population levels more closely into line. The prime purpose was to seek ways of relieving the burden of overcrowding in the adult estate, where the need is for good quality and secure accommodation.
The main proposals which have emerged from the review are as follows. First, three large young offender institutions will become adult prisons for category C prisoners. Her Majesty's prison Wellingborough, which has accommodated with success the bulk of the Grendon population while building work has been going on there, will continue as an adult prison when Grendon returns to operation during the autumn. Her Majesty's young offender institution The Mount will become an adult establishment (the purpose for which it was originally built) before the end of the current financial year, and Her Majesty's young offender institution Castington similarly in 1992–93. While some security work will be necessary to make them fully suitable for their new role, all three establishments offer modern and secure accommodation and will be most valuable additions to the adult estate. Secondly, a number of establishments will change their functions in whole or in part so as to provide a resource more fitted to the expected population. This may involve the provision of local, training or young offender places as required in the particular area. In some areas, these changes will help to move young offenders on remand out of adult local prisons. For example, part of the existing young offender institution at Everthorpe has been redesignated as a prison to enable it to hold such offenders and to give immediate relief to Her Majesty's prison Hull. In 1992, it is intended that Her Majesty's prison Thorp Arch should take young offender remand prisoners so as to reduce or even eliminate the young offender population in Her Majesty's prison Leeds.
It was always clear that as we sought to develop plans for the better use of the estate, the possibility could not be ruled out of closing establishments, particularly young offender establishments, where their accommodation was uneconomic, poorly located, or in other respects below standard. It is proposed that HM young offender institution Campsfield House and HM young offender institution Lowdham Grange should close by the end of the current financial year, and HM young offender institution Eastwood Park and HM prison Northeye by 470W the end of 1992–93. Campsfield House offers no more than 70 places with low security. To fill this up with prisoners not suitable for these conditions would be to put the public at risk. The establishment could discharge any alternative and secure function only following virtual rebuilding at high cost and considerable delay. Similar considerations apply to Eastwood Park and Northeye. Lowdham Grange is an open young offender establishment which has for some time been only partly occupied as the young offender population has fallen. Inmates suitable for open conditions can be accommodated elewhere within the system. Staff, trade unions and boards of visitors will be consulted on the basis of these proposals.
These initiatives will produce a more efficient prison estate in which accommodation is better located, better fitted to its tasks, and with better facilities than now exist.