Giant jails 'plan for overcrowding'

My Account
Logout

Create an Evening Standard Account

Use your social network

Save time by using your existing account to sign in to Evening Standard

We'll never share your information or post anything to your account without your permission

Welcome! Sign in here

Use your social network

Save time by using your existing account to sign in to Evening Standard

We'll never share your information or post anything to your account without your permission

Forgot your password ?

Registration

* indicates fields that are mandatory

Email *

Password *

Confirm Password *

First name *

Surname *

Postcode *

Country *

Mobile phone number

Username *

Gender *

Year of birth *

When you sign up...

You will have access to all our online competitions, discounted offers and can post comments on our site.

You will also receive The Weekender newsletter sent every Thursday - it’s full of fantastic offers and ideas for the weekend. You can update your email preferences in your account page when you log in.

Other newsletters and emails

Homes & Property Newsletter - Yes I want to receive the weekly email with all the latest news on property in the capital

Occasionally we would also like to send you relevant emails detailing specific offers either from ourselves or carefully selected partners. If you would prefer not to receive these then please tick the appropriate boxes below. We will never pass on your details.

I do not want to receive additional offers and information from the Evening Standard

I do not want to receive additional offers and information sent by Evening Standard on behalf of carefully selected partners

Terms and Conditions

* I have read, understood and agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of Evening Standard

Registration

Mail Sent for Registration Confirmation.

A confirmation email has been sent. Please activate your account by clicking on the activation link sent in your mail box.

Titans could also be re-named "cluster" prisons in a bid to persuade critics that they will not be a mere "warehouse" for criminals.

A consultation paper from Justice Secretary Jack Straw said sites for the new jails should be "suitable for an initial development providing at least 2,100 uncrowded places, with the capacity to hold up to 2,500 prisoners through planned overcrowding".

The Ministry of Justice had previously said the jails would feature "around 2,500 places each" and had not mentioned initial overcrowding.

The document revealed the department is looking for a minimum of 50-acre sites - ideally brownfield - to build jails about four or five storeys high.

When the Titan plan was announced in December, the likely locations were given as London, the West Midlands and the North West.

The paper indicated London as the most likely choice for the first Titan, because of a 13,600 shortfall in prison places predicted for the area by 2014.

The current jail-building programme aims to bring overall capacity to 96,000 by 2014, with each Titan costing an estimated £350 million to build.

Prisons minister David Hanson said: "Our aim is to provide better value for money for the taxpayer and better opportunities to rehabilitate offenders so that they don't offend again."

Director of the Prison Reform Trust, Juliet Lyon, said: "This blinkered consultation fails to ask fundamental questions about the best ways to use substantial public monies to reduce re-offending and instead asks what sort of monster should we go for. There is evidence, here and overseas, that giant institutions do not work."