£19m prison officially opened next to Ashworth Hospital

Feb 2 2008 by Richard Down, Liverpool Daily Post

THE first pubic prison to be built in a decade has been officially opened in Merseyside by Prisons Minister David Hanson.

HMP Kennet was set up next to Ashworth Hospital, Maghull, 12 months ago, and the Category C jail took its first offender six months ago.

Kennet was built at a cost of £19m, in response to overcrowding. It is part of the £1.2bn prison building scheme former home secretary John Reid announced when he visited the site last May.

The plans should raise the number of prison places nationally to 96,000 by 2014.

Mr Hanson last night also visited the privately run HMP Altcourse to see a new block for 180 prisoners.

He said: “I am delighted to see the building programme progressing not only through new prisons but in additional capacity at prisons across England and Wales.

“In response to Lord Carter’s review, we announced a further 10,500 places on top of the 9,500 already confirmed. This includes up to three ’Titans’.

“It is vital we ensure there are prison places for those serious and dangerous offenders who ought to be in prison and as can be seen here we are delivering on that commitment. But we must ensure courts have tough community sentences at their disposal to deal with less serious, non-violent offenders.”

“There are people in prison who ought not to be there, including those with mental health issues and vulnerable women. We are looking at how we can focus our resources where they can be most effective, ensuring that we properly protect the public from dangerous individuals, rehabilitate offenders and reduce re-offending.”

His message comes 12 months after a rocky start to Kennet’s life. The Prison Officers Association (POA) considered court action over plans to transfer staff from other jails to work forced overtime at Kennet.

Last night, POA regional representative Tom Robson told the Daily Post that staffing was still a concern.

But he added: “The POA is addressing some of the issues with management to get more staff in there.

“Our staff have been working miracles to get the disused hospital up and running. Now it’s time to look at more permanent staffing solutions.”

Mr Hanson’s visit follows Justice Secretary Jack Straw’s visit to HMP Wandsworth yesterday, where he announced a package of measures to tackle re-offending and address some of the concerns at the heart of the criminal justice debate.

Lord Carter of Coles published his review on December 5 and the Government announced its aim to achieve an overall net capacity of just over 96,000 by 2014. This increase gives the Government an opportunity to modernise the estate and close 5,000 old inefficient prison places.

The Government committed £1.2bn to cover the costs of additional prison places, as well as funding for offenders to be managed in the community.

FOR a full video report, please go to www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/video

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