Criminal Justice Reform Groups Bid for U.K. Prison Contracts

LONDON — Several nonprofit criminal justice reform groups are joining with private security and detention firms to bid for the construction and management of two new 600-bed prisons.

Nacro, a corrections reform charity, recently formed a consortium with Group 4 Securicor to bid for government contracts to construct and manage two new prisons proposed for Maghull, north of Liverpool, and Belmarsh, in southeast London. The Ministry of Justice is due to award the contracts in 2009.

Rainer Crime Concern, a nonprofit organization focused on juvenile services and crime reduction, and the social care charity Turning Point will work with private management services company Serco Group to present a similar joint bid for the prison contracts.

The nonprofit-private sector partnerships are a first for the criminal justice system in the United Kingdom, where nonprofit groups are traditionally hired as sub-contractors by private prison operators to provide inmate and detainee treatment and programming services. Private prison operators manage 11 of the 49 prisons in England and Wales.

The two proposed 600-bed prisons form part of a larger $5.2 billion government plan designed to upgrade facilities, alleviate chronic overcrowding and meet projected population increases.

The prison population in England and Wales is forecasted to increase from the current level of approximately 81,000 inmates to 96,000 inmates by 2012, according to a December 2007 review conducted by Lord Carter of Coles.

The government’s prison system expansion plan (see March/April issue of Correctional News), which will expand bed capacity in the prison system to almost 100,000 beds by 2014, is anchored by the construction of three 2,500-bed titan prisons.

Lord Carter also recommended a comprehensive evaluation of the structure and management of the prison system. The nonprofit-sector partnerships could be evaluated as a potential model for the operation and management of the three additional prisons, officials say.

Jointly, England and Wales have the highest per-capita prison population in Western Europe, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The prison population has increased by 60 percent since 1995.

For every 100,000 residents in England and Wales, 148 individuals are incarcerated, compared to an incarceration rate of 85 individuals per 100,000 in France and 93 individuals per 100,000 in Germany.

Recidivism rates also remain high, despite government efforts to reduce the level of criminal re-offending. Approximately 70 percent of juvenile offenders and more than 50 percent of adult offenders are re-arrested within two years of release, according to Justice Ministry figures.

The three additional prisons are planned for London, the West Midlands and a site in northeast England. One of the new facilities, which will be larger than any existing British detention facility, is scheduled to be operational by 2012.