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Abandon prison expansion alongside Titans (24 April 2009)

Commenting on reports that the Government has abandoned plans for Titan prisons, Jon Collins, Campaign Director for the Criminal Justice Alliance, said:

'The Government's welcome decision to abandon Titan prisons is a victory for penal reformers, who have campaigned vigorously for the proposals to be scrapped. Titan prisons would have been expensive, ineffective and done nothing to solve the current crisis in the prison system.

'However, the Government's new proposals for five 1,500-place prisons are little better than the Titan proposals they replace. These prisons would still be the biggest in England and Wales, ignoring evidence that smaller, local prisons work better than large ones.

'Instead of building new prisons as a quick-fix solution to prison overcrowding, the Government should develop a new approach to criminal justice policy that combines reducing the use of prison with investment in properly-resourced alternatives in the community.'