The justice secretary has admitted prisons will be full within three years despite plans to build 14,000 more spaces.
Shabana Mahmood has today announced the expansion programme as part of a 10-year strategy to address the intensely overcrowded system.
It comes after she had to authorise the early release of almost 3,000 prisoners just a week after getting into office to avoid what she called the “total breakdown” of law and order – prisons were only 100 places away from being completely full at the time.
Mahmood said her ambition is to “make sure we never run out of prisons again” and the “first step in turning things around is dealing with our capacity problems”.
Radio 4′s Today programme presenter, Nick Robinson, asked her: “Even if you achieve that, will we simply just have another prison crisis in two or three years time?”
She replied: “The capacity strategy that we are publishing today sets out clearly that the plan for how we will build 14,000 prison places by 2031, that’s the timeline we are working to.
“It’s the most detailed transparent plan that any government has come forward with so it marks a total shift from what was happening under the last administration.”
Robinson said: “But you’re facing a shortfall, aren’t you?”
She said: “Absolutely – but we’re very honest and transparent in the strategy itself, that building itself is not enough because the demand in prison places is rising more quickly.”
The minister noted 4,500 more prison spaces are needed every single year – amid tougher sentencing and backlogs with court sentencing – so a “longer term solution” was needed.
Robinson said: “To be clear, even with 14,000 extra places and new prisons, you could run out of cells within three years?”
“We will run out,” she admitted, noting that “demand is still rising faster than any supply could catch up with.”
The government is aiming to build four new prisons over the next seven years, which will create 6,400 new cells.
Existing prisons will have new blocks added to create another 6,400 places, while another 1,000 cells will be refurbished and an additional 1,000 other makeshift cells – which can last up to 15 years – will be set up.