Recommendation 2

8. As the Lord Chancellor highlighted in his oral statement to Parliament in October 2023, (The Government’s approach to criminal justice 2) the prison population in England & Wales has been under acute pressure due to the pandemic and the Criminal Bar Association strike resulting in a surge in the remand population. 9. We will do whatever it takes to make sure there are always enough places to keep the British people safe, ensure criminals can be brought to justice, and maintain a safe and decent estate for both staff and prisoners. This is why we are delivering on our promise to build 20,000 modern prison places – the largest prison building programme since the Victorian era. As well as delivering state-of the-art prisons, such as HMP Five Wells and HMP Fosse Way, we are undertaking major refurbishments at sites including HMP Birmingham, HMP Liverpool, and HMP Norwich. The wing-by-wing refurbishment at HMP Liverpool will see every cell renovated. Work has begun on the new HMP Millsike. 1 MoJ (2019). The impact of short custodial sentences, community orders and suspended sentence orders on reoffending (publishing.service.gov.uk); MoJ (2015). The impact of short custodial sentences, community orders and suspended sentence orders on re-offending (publishing.service.gov.uk) 2 https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/the-governments-approach-to-criminal-justice J