Source · Select Committees · Justice Committee
Recommendation 13
13
We welcome the sourcing and installation of temporary units to increase headroom across the prison...
Recommendation
We welcome the sourcing and installation of temporary units to increase headroom across the prison estate. We welcome the announcement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in his Summer Statement on 8 July that £60m is being made available to provide 1,000 temporary places. We recognise that this is ongoing work, but the Ministry of Justice should set out when they intend all 2,000 temporary units to be installed and when these units will be operational. Additionally, the Ministry should provide costings for the 2,000 temporary units, and set out how they intend to re- deploy these cells in the long-term. (Paragraph 68) Coronavirus (Covid-19): The impact on prisons 29 Children and young people in the custodial estate during COVID-19
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic we have introduced temporary accommodation cells across the prison estate to increase space and help reduce the spread of coronavirus. 1,150 units have been installed at 29 prisons in the HMPPS estate and two privately managed (G4S) prisons. Over 850 are currently in use. These units been used successfully to support compartmentalisation and have proven to be beneficial to prisoners who are accommodated in them. These units will remain in place until it is safe to remove them. We are considering the ongoing use of these type of units as part of management of short-term population pressures and to support the transition to the significant permanent capacity that will be delivered over the coming years. The Prime Minister announced funding for 1,000 more prison places through temporary accommodation. This accommodation—Rapid Deployment Cells—will be designed and built to a Cat C standard as minimum and used to support short-term prison population pressures and maintenance and refurbishment projects. This ambitious project aims to deliver 1,000 additional prison places in the 2021/22 financial year. Alongside meeting the immediate need of protecting the prison population against the threat of Covid-19, we are working to deliver an ambitious building programme over the next six years. As announced at the spending review, we have committed more than £4 billion capital funding to make significant progress in delivering 18,000 additional prison places across England and Wales by the mid-2020s.