Prisons: Construction

As set out in the December 2024 10-Year Prison Capacity Strategy, we are committed to delivering an additional 14,000 prison places across England and Wales and have already delivered around 3,300 places since July 2024. We remain on track to meet this commitment by 2031.

Our expansion programme includes the construction of four new prisons, including HMP Millsike which opened in spring 2025, alongside the expansion and refurbishment of the existing estate. We have committed a further investment of £4.7 billion over the current spending review period (2026/27 to 2029/30) to support the delivery of these places, including breaking ground at the new HMP Welland Oaks site in Leicestershire in November 2025. We are building two further new prisons next to the existing HMP Garth in Lancashire and HMP Grendon in Buckinghamshire, and we are committed to undertaking critical maintenance work across the prison estate. We have also confirmed there will be investment to purchase new land to secure potential sites for future prisons and build a credible pipeline to enable more prison building in the future.

We continue to explore options so the prison estate can move from crisis management to a more resilient and rehabilitative system. This will ensure the estate can meet future demand, improve conditions, and support a stronger case for sustained investment.