10 Reasons to Stop Prison Expansion in Britain

On December 5, 2007, the British Ministry of Justice announced a massive prison expansion program to create 10,500 new prison spaces by 2014. This is in addition to the 9,500 spaces previously announced. The government originally planed to build three massive new US-style “Titan” prisons, which will hold up to 2,500 prisoners each, but because of widespread opposition, the government changed its plan and now intends to build 5 “mini-Titan” prisons instead (to hold 1,500 each). Proposed locations for the first two mini-Titans include Beam Park West (East London) and Runwell, Chelmsford (Essex). We don’t need more prisons – here’s why:

1. More prisons won’t reduce crime and may increase re-offence rates.
Criminologists warn that building more prisons is likely to increase rather than decrease re-offence rates. A study by former senior Home Office researcher Carole Hederman, for example, found that re-offence rates are increasing in tandem with prison population growth. Since 1993

the British prison population has nearly doubled and the number of people reconvicted within two years of release has risen from 53% to 65% (and 75% for young men). As Hederman notes: “Prison will never be an effective crime-control tool because the evidence clearly demonstrates that it actively creates or compounds the factors that contribute to offending.”

2. Prisons disproportionately target poor communities, people of colour, migrants, people with mental health issues, and people with learning disabilities.

Prisons disproportionately lock up marginalized, disadvantaged and oppressed groups. People of colour, for example, make up 25% of prisoners, but less than 9% of the general UK population. This is not because some groups are more criminal than others, but because they are more targeted by the system. For example, blacks are twice as likely to be imprisoned for drug offences than whites, even though blacks have an equal or lower per-capita level of drug use than whites.

3. Prisons don’t meet the needs of victims/survivors of violence.
Survivors of violence repeatedly say that the justice system doesn’t work for them. Many people feel unable to report harm to police (especially sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, hate crimes). Those who do use the legal system often feel excluded from the court process, re-victimized by lawyers and unsatisfied with results. Prisons do not promote accountability; prisons only punish. We need strategies that ensure genuine accountability, reconciliation and healing.

4. Prisons tear families and communities apart.
New prisons will concentrate high numbers of prisoners in one place, meaning that people are held far away from family, friend and community supports. Yet family support is a key factor in reducing re-offence rates. Separating people from their home communities and isolating them in abusive and violent environments can make pre-existing problems worse and cause increased social and economic hardship for the family and community members who are left behind.

5. Prison expansion is expensive.
The prison-building program will cost between £3.2 – 4.6 billion, by the government’s own estimate. In addition to building, it costs approximately £112 per day (£40,992 per year) to keep a person in prison in England and Wales. Alternatives to prison, such as probation, bail supervision and community supervision orders, cost £5 to £50 per day. Community resources would be better used on harm-prevention measures such as health care, education, housing, and employment.

6. Large “supersize” prisons have terrible track records.
Large prisons, particularly those with low staff-prisoner ratios have higher rates of violence, increased risk of riots, greater drug problems and gang issues. They consistently under-perform in addressing the needs of prisoners and have higher re-offending rates. The Titan-style prison built near Paris in 1992 has been so disastrous that France vowed will never repeat this model.

7. The new prisons will be privately financed/built at huge social and economic cost.
The new prisons will be built under a Private Finance Initiative (PFI), which means the public sector pays private companies to build, maintain and operate the prisons on a loan-like scheme. What the government saves now, future generations will pay for later, both financially and socially, as these schemes require payback over periods of up to 25 years.  Private prisons also have a terrible track record for violence, overcrowding and staffing problems. Private firms also abuse prison labour, paying prisoners pennies an hour to produce goods for sale in commercial markets. More importantly, allowing private companies to profit from crime creates a built-in financial incentive to lock up more and more people, thereby perpetuating the prison crisis.

8. Prisons are not good for local economies.
The government claims that new prisons will create jobs and generate economic benefits – but in reality, the long term economic costs for local communities will be high. The US tried to build its economy through prison expansion in the 1980s and 90s and the impact on local communities was disastrous. Prisons may offer short-term building jobs, but long-term prospects are limited to low pay, low quality jobs, with most profits channelled back to big corporations. Prisons are also toxic environments for workers, with high turnover rates, increased sick leave and higher rates of depression, stress, and anxiety.

9. We can’t build our way out of the current prison crisis.
Prisons in the UK have been drastically overcrowded for the past 15 years, but not because there is more crime, (crime rates have been falling) and not because more people are being caught (the number of people found guilty has remained roughly the same). Rather, the number and length of prison sentences have increased dramatically. For example, 18.6% of shoplifters were sent to prison from magistrates’ courts in 2004, compared with 4.7% in 1994. Since Labour came to power in 1997, the UK government has created more than 3600 new criminal offences. Building more prisons is not the answer; we know from the US experience: “If you build it, they will fill it.”

10. We don’t need more prisons in the UK: Real alternatives exist.
Study after study shows that prisons don’t make our communities safer – prisons don’t prevent crime, they don’t facilitate genuine rehabilitation and they ultimately perpetuate further harm, violence and oppression. Alternatives to prison, such as community treatment, mental health services, housing, poverty alleviation, restorative justice processes and circles of support and accountability are far more effective, particularly in the long run. We need real social, economic and racial justice – not more prisons.

Sources: Ministry of Justice, “Prison Policy Update - Briefing Paper”; Prison Reform Trust, “Titan Prisons: A Gigantic Mistake” 2008; Prison Reform Trust, “Bromley Briefings: Prison Factfile” 2007 & 2008; National Council of Independent Monitoring Boards; “Re-offencding rates rise as the prison population expands” The Independent, 20 July 2008; Campaign to End Prison Slavery.

Join the campaign to stop prison expansion!

Dozens of community organizations, public officials, criminology experts, MPs, and unions have already spoken out against the new prisons. There is still time to stop the new prisons – but we must act now!

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