Prison laundry rooms, offices and storage cupboards will be turned into cells as Labour tries out new ways of tackling the capacity crisis.
The lack of space for prisoners has been one of the first major challenges for new Prime Minister Andy Burnham – and he has piled on additional pressure by ruling out more categories of offenders for early release.
On Sunday, Burnham confirmed that those locked up for all forms of manslaughter – including the killers of PC Andrew Harper – would not be freed early.
The move means 1,400 extra prisoners will remain behind bars, further limiting the impact of the scheme which was intended to create room for those who have been newly convicted.
Justice Secretary Alex Norris is set to provide more details about the changes to the plans in a statement to Parliament later today.
In the meantime, he has said some extra capacity can be found by converting existing spaces in prison, such as rooms used for storage or laundry.
Norris told LBC: ‘There isn’t, I have to say, lots and lots of sort of empty space.
‘It is functional, but we’re finding that balance between those day-to-day functions and the need to have enough places to convert them where we can into usable cell space.’
Asked where laundry would take place instead, he replied: ‘I wouldn’t want to go laundry room by laundry room around the prison estate.
‘But there are creative ways we can use in terms of using other parts of the prison as well. None of this will be done at the expense of having a functioning day-to-day regime.’
The Ministry of Justice has announced that funding worth £110 million is going towards ‘speeding up the construction of hundreds of prison places’.
Ministers have also signed a contract to begin the first phase of works on a prison in Lancashire which should ultimately hold around 1,700 inmates – though it is likely to be several years before it opens.
Mark Fairhurst, the national chairman of the Prison Officers’ Association, said the issues faced by the system go beyond capacity to staffing.
He told the BBC: ‘Who’s going to staff the new prisons? If you create the additional space, you need additional staff.
‘Where is that staff coming from? Because we can’t retain staff – the workplace is too violent, the wages are too low and the retirement age is too high.’
Responding on the Today programme, Norris said retention of staff ‘is the primary thing’.
He added: ‘I will have important conversations with [Fairhurst], I’ve no doubt, around pay, terms and conditions, health and safety to come.
‘We will improve that prison environment, so that people want to stay as well, but so it is the best possible place to work in what is a very, very difficult job.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
MORE: Major change could be coming for your favourite snacks — again
MORE: Keir Starmer to step down as MP and force London by-election
MORE: Domestic abuse survivor subjected to ‘mental torture’ fears attacker could be released