Yesterday’s Independent reported that the Rt Hon Jack Straw intends to increase the prison capacity in England and Wales to 96,000 from its current level of about 86,600. What a criminal waste of taxpayers’ money!
Each new prison place costs around £170,000 excluding running costs according to the Prison Reform Trust. The average burden to the taxpayer of keeping someone in prison is around a further £40,000 each year according to the Howard League for Penal Reform. Based on these estimates, the 9,400 new prison places would cost around £1.6 billion to build and a further £376 million per year to run.
Given that there’s little benefit to the taxpayer of imprisoning someone who doesn’t pose a threat to public safety (including many of the existing prison population), it seems outrageous to build more prison capacity at such colossal expense.
Do you think we need more prison capacity when around 7 out of 10 prisoners are back in prison again within two years of their release? Or should we make more use of alternative sanctions to prison, including community payback programmes and addiction treatment? Have your say by posting a comment below today.
Tags: Alternatives to prison, Community programme, Prison system, The Howard League for Penal Reform