Building more prisons is not the answer | Letters

Wednesday’s opposition day debate on prisons served to highlight the ongoing crisis in the system. At the same time, the government’s “prison-building revolution” is gathering pace, with plans to expand prison capacity by at least 10,000 places. This appears to be a revival of the “Titan prisons” policy opposed by penal reformers and mothballed in 2009. It should be halted immediately. For example, the new prison recently proposed for the site of HMP Wellingborough will more than treble its capacity to 1,600 and grand claims have been made about the opportunities that this will bring in terms of local jobs and financial investment. These plans are being rushed through without full public scrutiny and democratic debate.

The numbers of people criminalised and sent to prison have already spiralled out of control to a record high. Yet prisons do very little to address the needs of people experiencing harm or violence. Building more prisons is not the answer to the current acknowledged failings of the existing system. Rather than investing £1.3bn in building new prisons, the government should be prioritising policies that radically reduce the number of people in prison. This could include meaningful jobs, social housing, healthcare, education, transport – for all.

We are calling for an immediate moratorium on prison construction and a national debate about how to build a safer society and secure communities instead of continuing with a failed policy of criminal justice expansion. We need to build safe and healthy communities – not prisons.
Tom Kemp
Reclaim Justice Network
Professor Peter Squires
British Society of Criminology
Will McMahon
Centre for Crime and Justice Studies
Deborah Coles
Inquest
Andy Gregg
Race on the Agenda
Dr David Scott
Open University
Kate Paradine
Women in Prison
Jan Cunliffe
Joint Enterprise Not Guilty by Association
Jodie Blackstock
Justice
Dionne Nelson
Women’s Resource Centre
Chryssy Hunter
Bent Bars Project
Kevin Blowe
Network for Police Monitoring
Professor Phil Scraton
Dr Sarah Lamble
Birkbeck University
Professor Pat Carlen
Gina Stokes
Anawim WWT
Professor Joe Sim
Pazuzu Gaylord
Action for Trans Health
Ian Marder
Community of Restorative Researchers
Margaret Gardener
False Allegations Support Organisation
Dennis Eady
South Wales against Wrongful Conviction
Kushal Sood
Trent Centre for Human Rights
Annys Darkwa
Vision Housing Services
Gerry McFlynn
Irish Council for Prisoners Overseas

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Building more prisons is not the answer | Letters