Future of huge 'Titan jails' in doubt as Brown and Straw retreat

The Justice Secretary said the so-called Titan prisons - the centrepiece of Labour's strategy to end overcrowding - are not "definitely going to go ahead".

The dramatic change of direction came only one month after the £2.3billion policy was announced.

Scroll down for more...

An embarrassed Gordon Brown later tried to clear up the confusion by saying up to three of the jails would still be built.

But his remarks only added to the disarray when he stressed this would be "subject to consultation".

Opposition MPs ridiculed the Government's dithering.

Tory justice spokesman Nick Herbert said: "The public remains in the dark about whether Titan prisons will go ahead or how much they will cost.

"The Government shows a complete lack of grip on criminal justice policy."

Liberal Democrat spokesman David Heath said: "It is exactly this sort of indecisiveness and lack of strategy that has caused the current crisis in our prison system.

"The reality is that ministers are not going to be able to build their way out of this crisis."

In December Mr Straw told MPs that one Titan jail would definitely be built by 2014, and a further two could also be constructed.

He even produced sketches of how the jails would look, and said Ministers would be prepared to bulldoze through planning permission if there were any local opposition.

But he has been beaten back by a storm of criticism. The Prison Governors Association warned that the size of the jails could lead to rioting.

Paul Tidball, president of the PGA, said: "The danger of loss of control in a large institution is real, whatever the layout."

He said previous inquiries had warned against large jails, and that inmates could react badly.

"If there is deep-seated resentment that they are products in a cynical warehousing operation, the danger that lack of engagement will tilt into resistance and disorder is a real one."

Yesterday Anne Owers, the chief inspector of prisons, echoed these concerns. She said larger prisons were less successful in stopping inmates from re-offending.

In a blistering annual report, she also accused the Government of having no "coherent" prisons strategy, and failing to predict the current overcrowding crisis.

Responding to Mrs Owers' concern, Mr Straw told BBC Radio Four's Today programme: "We haven't got planning permission for these places.

"We are not definitely going to go ahead - that is the default setting - but I also want to hear what people say.

"We're not going to have large warehouses as they have in the United States and indeed France."

He also repeatedly refused to rule out more early releases of inmates.

Officials will confirm today that more than 16,000 criminals have been released 18 days before reaching the halfway point of their sentence to ease overcrowding.

Pressed on whether more early release schemes will be implemented, Mr Straw would only say: "I sincerely hope not. You can never ever completely rule these things out."

Later Mr Brown, under pressure from MPs, said the Titans would be built - before adding the crucial "consultation" caveat.

With the key contributions to this consultation likely to come from prison governors and Mrs Owers, it leaves the door open for Titans to be ditched altogether.

The Government would then be forced to build a larger number of smaller jails, or re-think the promise to provide an extra 15,000 prison places by 2014.