Pubdate: Sun, 18 Mar 2007
Source: Observer, The (UK)
Copyright: 2007 The Observer
Contact:  http://www.observer.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/315
Author: Jamie Doward, Home Affairs editor

PRISONERS TO BE PUT IN CARGO CONTAINERS

Overcrowding Crisis Prompts Government to Import Converted Shipping 
Units to Use As Cells

Specially converted sea containers imported from China are to be 
turned into temporary jails to ease the British prisons overcrowding 
crisis, The Observer has learned.

The plan is to have the modules installed in five prisons by June at 
a cost of UKP3.5m each. Prisons earmarked for the new units include 
Stoke Heath Young Offenders Institution in Shropshire and Wayland 
Prison in Norfolk.

The government has also placed an order for two large-scale units 
comprising five containers bolted together and capable of holding 300 
prisoners apiece. These larger modules will require planning 
permission, which means they are unlikely to be introduced until the 
end of the year. It is understood Rochester Prison in Kent has been 
identified as one possible site for the new units.

Article continues Similar containers already house British troops in 
Iraq and Afghanistan but the plan to use them in prisons has 
astonished criminal justice experts, who warn it may have health and 
safety implications. 'Using containers to house prisoners, even for 
short periods of time, is extraordinary,' said Harry Fletcher of the 
probation union Napo.

'There are clearly health and safety and environmental issues which 
would have to be addressed. The units are likely to be cramped so 
there will not be much room for activities such as education. No 
decisions appear to have been made on staffing and it is unclear 
where the money will be coming from.'

The containers will have 30 cells, each capable of holding two 
prisoners. The cells are formed by slotting specially made wooden 
walls into the metal sides of the containers. Each cell will have a 
shower, a toilet and an anti-suicide porthole. As the containers - 
known as 'temporary custodial modules' - are under 1,000 square 
metres in size they will not require planning permission.

The Home Office is desperate to install the containers by June, when 
the prison population is expected to reach crisis point. The 
situation has become so grim that Home Office officials have been 
forced to consider a plan for the early release of 2,500 prisoners in 
an attempt to ease overcrowding in Britain's jails.

Whitehall sources last night confirmed the existence of the scheme, 
but said there were no present plans to activate it. They said it 
would be used only as a last resort and was only one of many options 
being considered.

The Home Secretary, John Reid, has consistently opposed any such 
moves and has ruled them out on his watch, but The Observer 
understands that senior figures in the Home Office now believe they 
may have no choice but to put the plan into effect later in the year, 
if the prison population continues to rise.

Last Thursday it reached more than 80,000, around 800 below usable 
operational capacity. Internal Home Office estimates suggest that, if 
present trends continue, it will touch 83,000 by June, triggering the 
need for drastic action unless more places are found.

Under the new proposals, about 2,500 prisoners would be freed a 
fortnight early under what is known as a release on temporary 
licence. They can be recalled for breaching the terms of their 
release. This proposal differs from the standard early release scheme 
that carries no sanctions and which Reid rejected last year for fear 
that he would be seen as 'too soft'.

Home Office sources stressed that only non-violent prisoners would be 
released under the plan and that those considered for it would be 
subject to strict eligibility criteria and supervision.

Critics of the Home Office are likely to accuse ministers of 
political meddling to solve a crisis of their own making if they 
choose to activate the plan.

'The release of these prisoners early would be a direct consequence 
of Labour's failure to address the chronic lack of capacity in our 
prisons, despite warnings from ourselves and their own advisers going 
back to 2001,' said David Davis, the shadow Home Secretary.

In a separate move, Home Office minister Baroness Scotland, Lord 
Chief Justice Lord Phillips and the head of the National Offender 
Management Service, Helen Edwards, will tomorrow summon magistrates 
to a conference to discuss alternatives to jail. But any suggestion 
that magistrates should imprison fewer offenders is likely to be 
greeted by claims of interference and prompt an ugly row between 
politicians and the judiciary.

The mounting crisis comes as independent research to be published by 
the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies warns that the government's 
sentencing regime could be leading to more custodial sentences.

'Home Office officials hoped a reconfigured community sentence and 
the new suspended sentence order would address the ratcheting-up in 
sentencing tariffs which has resulted in... immediate custody 
displacing community penalties,' said Enver Solomon, the centre's 
deputy director. 'Our analysis shows this is not happening and the 
government is having to resort to desperate measures.'
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