Site for £250million 'super-prison' announced

The building of super prison in north Wales will result to shutting down 4 prisons in England.

06:17 05 September 2013

The government has announced that a £250million 'super-prison' will be built in north Wales. Reports confirmed that the super prison will be the biggest in Britain and will have space for about 2,000 inmates. Because of this, the jails in Reading, Blundeston, Reading, and Northallerton will be closed down by March next year as confirmed by Justice Secretary Chris Grayling.

According to the government, the new super-prison will create 1,000 jobs. However, 685 staff who are currently working for the four English prison could lose their jobs.

 

Chris Grayling said: “Of course the reorganisation of our prison estate which we are undertaking means some difficult decisions.”

"But we have to make sure that we have modern, affordable prisons that give the best opportunity for us to work with offenders to stop them committing more crimes when they leave."

Meanwhile, some prison reform campaigners, think that creating a super prison isn’t only the solution to the problem. Frances Crook from the Howard League for penal reform said: “"Closing failing prisons is the right move to make, but without a coherent strategy to reduce prison numbers it will make the problem of overcrowding worse.” He added that the super prison will be “too large to manage effectively.”