The Labour government has not planned any new prisons since taking office in July 2024, despite acknowledging an ongoing overcrowding crisis and implementing an early release scheme that will allow thousands of inmates to be freed. This admission comes amid criticism of the government's handling of prison capacity.
A written parliamentary answer from Justice Minister Jake Richards revealed that no new prisons have been "planned or approved" since July 5, 2024. This is despite the government warning about the lack of prison places for two years prior to taking office, often attributing the situation to the previous administration.
Under a Prison Capacity Strategy announced in December 2024, Labour aims to create 14,000 additional prison places by 2031. However, the strategy relies on what a minister described as "four new prisons," all of which were initially announced by the Conservative government in June 2020. One of these, HMP Millsike, has already opened. HMP Welland Oaks is scheduled to open in 2029, while construction has yet to begin on the remaining two sites.
In July 2024, weeks after taking office, ministers announced that a significant number of criminals would be released early to alleviate overcrowding, a move exacerbated by riots. The early release scheme, which allows individuals to be freed after serving just one-third of their sentences, has drawn criticism. This has led to efforts to exclude certain offenders, such as rapists and the killers of PC Andrew Harper, from the scheme.
Justice Minister Catherine McKinnell, appointed on July 21, has faced scrutiny for her public statements regarding the early release crisis. She recently posted on social media about visits to a court and a prison, stating, "Three weeks. Four visits. A lot of conversations."
In a separate development, it was revealed that approximately 1,800 prison cells are currently unusable due to fire hazards. Gemma Abbott, legal director of the Howard League for Penal Reform, highlighted that fire safety issues have been acknowledged for over two decades and have resulted in nine fire-related deaths in public prisons since then. She stated that many inmates and staff are exposed to "intolerable fire safety risk."