British Justice Secretary Jack Straw announced on Wednesday the government would spend 1.2 billion pounds (about 2.45 billion U.S. dollars) to provide 10,500 extra jail places by 2014 to tackle overcrowding in prisons.
This will increase jail capacity to 96,000 places by 2014 by which three "super-prisons" each housing about 2,500 offenders are to be built, Straw told the Commons.
Reporting on a major review of prison overcrowding by Labor peer Lord Carter, Straw said legislation on indeterminate sentences, blamed for adding to the overcrowding problem, would be altered, and one of the proposals to set up a Sentencing Commission, which would look at the overall sentencing framework in relation to the prison population, will be considered by ministers.
Straw said the measures he has announced will "fulfill our commitment to provide a modernized prison system which protects the public from the most serious offenders."
One of the three super-prisons, larger than any prison currently used in Britain, will be in service by 2012 and the other two are expected to be built by 2014. These prisons Straw suggested being built in London, the West Midlands and the north-west of England respectively.
The prison population has been rising because sentences have grown longer, with average custodial sentences from crown courts rising to over 25 months from 20 months between 2005 and 1995.
The last official prison population figure for England and Wales stands at 81,455.
Lord Carter's review report forecasts that prison numbers will rise to nearly 95,500 by 2014 if the government takes action to limit numbers, but could hit 100,000 if no new measures are taken.
Source: Xinhua
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