February 1, 2008: First New Public Prison In A Decade

The first prison to be built under the new prison building scheme is being officially opened today by Prisons Minister the Rt. Hon David Hanson MP.

He opened HMP Kennet in Merseyside, the first public prison in a decade, which took its first offender six months ago, and is now operating at a capacity that can hold up to 342 prisoners. HMP Kennet is a Category C male prison. Since July 2007 HMP Kennet has been taking prisoners and reached operating capacity by the end of 2007.

The Minister also visited the privately run prison HMP Altcourse to see a new block for 180 prisoners. HMP Altcourse is Category B local prison for young offenders and adult male prisoners. It was the first PFI [private finance initiative] prison, opening in December 1997 and is run by GSL UK Limited.

David Hanson said:

'I am delighted to open HMP Kennet today and see the building programme progressing not only through new prisons but in additional capacity at prisons across England and Wales.

'In response to Lord Carter's review in December, we announced a further 10,500 places on top of the 9,500 already confirmed. This includes up to three Titans as recommended by Lord Carter. Since 1997 the government has increased prison capacity by more than 20,000 places.

'It is vital we ensure there are prison places for those serious and dangerous offenders who ought to be in prison and as can be seen here we are delivering on that commitment. But we must equally ensure that courts have tough community sentences at their disposal to deal with less serious, non-violent offenders.

'There are people in prison who ought not to be there, including those with mental health issues and vulnerable women. We are looking closely at how we use prison so we can focus our resources where they can be most effective, ensuring that we properly protect the public from dangerous individuals, rehabilitate offenders and reduce reoffending.'

The Minister's visit follows the Justice Secretary Jack Straw's visit to HMP Wandsworth yesterday where he announced a package of measures to tackle reoffending and address some of the concerns at the heart of the criminal justice debate.

Lord Carter of Coles published his review into prisons and sentences on 5 December 2007 and the government announced its aim to achieve an overall net capacity of just over 96,000 by 2014. This increase in capacity gives the government an opportunity to modernise the estate and close 5,000 old inefficient prison places.

The government committed £1.2 billion to cover the capital and running costs of additional prison places coming on stream in the next spending review period, as well as funding for offenders to be managed in the community..