Prisons: Buildings
(asked on 9th December 2015) - View Source
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the status is of each prison building and site for prisons closed since May 2010.
Since May 2010 we have closed 18 prisons. This includes two partial closures (HMP Camp Hill, HMP Brockhill) and two former prisons (Morton Hall and The Verne) which have been re-roled into Immigration Removal Centres. The closure of these, and other uneconomic prison places, delivered £170m in savings between 2011-12 and 2014-15.
Two former prisons, Wellingborough and Camp Hill, have been retained as a contingency measure to deal with unexpected events such as a larger than projected increase in the prison population. This allows us to have reserve capacity without the cost of keeping them fully operational.
The status of each of the closed prisons is as follows:
Former Prison | Status |
HMP Ashwell | Sold |
HMP Lancaster Castle | Lease handed back |
HMP Latchmere House | Sold |
HMP Wellingborough | Reserve capacity |
HMP Bullwood Hall | Contracts exchanged |
HMP Canterbury | Sold |
HMP Gloucester | Sold |
HMP Kingston | Sold |
HMP Shepton Mallet | Sold |
HMP Shrewsbury | Sold |
HMP Blundeston | Contracts exchanged |
HMP Dorchester | Sold |
HMP Northallerton | Sold |
HMP Camp Hill (part of HMP Isle of Wight) | Reserve capacity |
HMP Brockhill (part of HMP Hewell) | Sold |
HMYOI Reading | Not yet on the market |
The Secretary of State for Justice announced on 9 November that we will sell former HMYOI Reading.