Written question asked by Mark Oaten (Liberal Democrat) on Thursday, 21 July 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 10 October 2005. It was answered by Fiona Mactaggart (Labour) on Wednesday, 12 October 2005 on behalf of the Home Office.

Prison Service

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the cost of constructing a 2,000-bed prison.

Answer: Large prisons are among the options that have been considered for new accommodation in the prison estate.The building of such prisons was considered in the report by Patrick Carter ““Review of PFI and Market Testing in the Prison Service”” in January 2001. Based on Prison Service estimates in 2001, the report indicated that construction costs for a 2,000 place prison built to a category B standard of security would be around £100,000 per place.No decision to proceed with any such prison has since been made. If the decision is to be made, all factors, including the cost of construction, will be considered at the time.

Secondary information