On 5 June the Ministry of Justice published Consultation Paper CP10/08 on Titan prisons. Those who wish to submit their views now have until 28 August. The term ‘consultation’ is used loosely as the government has already accepted the suggestion of the Carter Review (see FRFI 202) to build three ‘Titan’ prisons. These will be situated in or near to London, the West Midlands and the north west of England, and will house up to 2,500 prisoners each. The plan is to have the first Titan open by 2012. The cost of each new mega-prison is provisionally estimated at £350m at today’s prices. Although every new prison which has been built since Labour came to power has been built using private finance, the construction costs of the Titans will be borne by the tax-payer, although it is not yet determined who will run them.
The ‘consultation’ is not meant to address anything of substance but to concentrate on providing responses to questions such as ‘How should we segment the offender population… in order to best protect the public, reduce reoffending, deliver value for money and align supply and demand?’
FRFI thinks that this is too narrow a framework and suggests that our readers let the Ministry of Justice know their opinions on the plans to construct these massive prisons and increase the already staggering number of people behind bars still further.
To express your views on Titan prisons, write to Elizabeth Allen, Titan Prison Consultation, 9.07 Selborne House, 54-60 Victoria Street, London SW1E 6QW; telephone 020 7210 2677; email titan [email protected]
FRFI 204 August / September 2008
