PRISON CLOSURES AND PRIVATISATION

That this House is concerned by the Government's recent announcement that seven of Her Majesty's prisons in Bullwood Hall, Camp Hill, Canterbury, Gloucester, Kingston, Shepton Mallet and Shrewsbury are to be closed at a time when the prison population is high and prisons are already overcrowded; notes that this will put further pressure on remaining prisons, make rehabilitating prisoners more difficult and put safety at risk; further notes that as well as damaging prison services it will lead to massive job losses harming the economies of the local communities where the prisons are based; further notes that with the Government announcing in November that four more prisons are to be privatised, the decision to close public prisons and build new blocks in three private prisons will mean a higher proportion of jails are now being run for profit; and calls on the Government to launch an independent review of prison privatisation and for them to reconsider the proposals to close these prisons and to focus on reducing prison overcrowding through improving rehabilitation and reducing reoffending.