Massive coalition builds against Titan prisons

Massive coalition builds against Titan prisons

Thursday, 28, Aug 2008 06:36

The government is facing an unprecedented coalition of penal reform campaigners and opposition parties opposed to its plan for Titan prisons.

As the consultation process on the issue comes to an end, the government is having to answer a barrage of criticism over the plans.

The Criminal Justice Alliance – a coalition of 33 criminal justice organisations – has written an open letter to Jack Straw, justice secretary, condemning the scheme.

Then, in a separate devolvement, the Howard League for Penal Reform has called the proposals "a nightmare which awaits local communities".

The Prison Reform Trust said Titan prisons would "destabilise the criminal justice system for years to come" while the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health argued the plans risked "making mental ill health in prisons an even bigger problem".

Liberal Democrat justice spokesman Lord Thomas said: "It is inevitable that prisoners in huge jails far from home will lose touch with their families and friends and end up leaving prison rootless and unskilled.

"The more prisoners there are, the more ex-convicts you will end up managing. This country's very high reconviction rate shows that prisons are currently failing to rehabilitate convicts, while often destroying families and jobs."

Shadow justice secretary Nick Herbert said: "Titan jails are a bad idea, but it would be equally wrong to ignore the state of prison overcrowding. We must address this problem and we cannot simply empty our jails of serious or repeat offenders.

"The right way forward is to build smaller, local prisons with a new focus on reducing re-offending, and in this way arrest the growth in prisoner numbers."

The Criminal Justice Alliance – which includes Inquest, Justice, Liberty, Smart Justice and Unlock – called on Mr Straw to abandon the scheme.

The Howard League analysed the government's own prison population projections and suggested that on current trends even three Titan jails will not be enough to meet the accelerating demand for prison places. It also warned local communities forced to house Titan prisons would experience a tremendous inflow and outflow of people.

"Titan prisons will be a titan nightmare for those communities unfortunate enough to have these massive complexes built on their doorstep," said the League's director, Frances Crook.

"Over the course of the year the communities near Titan jails will see thousands of prisoners spat out of the gate with no prospect of sensible and safe resettlement.

"Quite frankly these are perfect 'market conditions' for the drug trade and will inevitably result in local crime and disorder," she added.

The Prison Reform Trust published a report today documenting its objections to the prisons, entitled "Titan prisons: a gigantic mistake".

Using 154 different factors to assess safe and effective prisons, the Trust said smaller prisons scored significantly better than bigger ones in two thirds of cases.

For 19 of the 24 factors concerning safety, small prisons scored significantly better. For example, 38 per cent of prisoners in large prisons said it was easy to obtain illegal drugs, compared to 26 per cent of prisoners in smaller prisons.

"The government is on the verge of making a massive, costly and hugely damaging mistake that will destabilise the criminal justice system for years to come, said Juliet Lyon, the trust's director.

"Giant US-style prisons may be easier to build but all the evidence here and abroad says the price we would pay in running them, and in higher re-offending rates, is far too high."

The Sainsbury Centre said the new prisons threatened making mental health issues in prison even worse.

"We believe that investment in community sentences and in smaller units for those who need to be in custody, especially for women and children, are better ways of solving the prison crowding problem than building Titan prisons.," said the centre's prisons and criminal justice director, Sean Duggan.

Prisons minister David Hanson hit back at the objectors.

"We have already made clear that we are not going to build giant warehouses - we intend Titans to be clusters made up of a number of smaller units within one perimeter wall," he said.

"Each unit, of for example 500 places, would serve a specific function in the process of educating, training and rehabilitating prisoners.

"The prisons will be situated where demand for prison places is greatest, so that those held there are nearer to their families and can maintain important links which we know reduce the chance they will offend again."

Today's developments follow a strong attack on Titan prisons by the National Council of Independent Monitoring Boards on Tuesday, during which its president said monitoring the prisons "will be very difficult if not impossible".

Estimates for the construction costs are also becoming ugly reading for the government, rising 30 per cent from £350 million to £450 million each.