PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Prisons (17 October 2018)

As well as constructing new prisons, the Government’s Prison Estate Transformation Programme is working to reconfigure the existing estate so that prisoners will be held in the right place at the right time in their custodial journey and their rehabilitation can be managed more effectively. This work will see the organisation of the adult male prison estate - including local prisons -simplified into three key functions: reception, training and resettlement. Reception prisons will manage men on remand, fixed recalls and those with a very short time to serve, and they will allocate other individuals for transfer to the next prison. Resettlement prisons will prepare people for release into the community, and they will hold shorter-sentenced men, as well as people transferred from training prisons. To support reconfiguration, we have developed evidence-based Models for Operational Delivery (MODs) for each prison function and also for specialist cohorts. The MODs are best-practice toolkits that will enable governors and commissioners to deliver effective services for their functions and specialist cohorts. The combination of building new prisons and the reconfiguration of the existing estate will address basic issues such as safety and decency, reduce crowding, and drive improvements in rehabilitation. By improving the match between the supply of places and the demands of the population men will be able to progress through the estate to access the right regimes for their needs and prisons will be able to better carry out their function.