Ministry of Justice written question – answered at on 26 March 2026.
Neil O'Brien
Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what is the estimated capital cost for a new prison place in England and Wales, broken down into categories A, B, C and D.
Jake Richards
Assistant Whip, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice
As set out in the 10-Year Prison Capacity Strategy, we are committed to delivering an additional 14,000 prison places and aim to do so by 2031. Our build programme consists of the construction of four new prisons, including HMP Millsike, as well as the expansion and refurbishment of the existing estate. These places are being delivered at category B, C and D sites and therefore no cost estimate has been made for category A places.
As per the ‘Independent Review of Prison Capacity’ (published in August 2025) as of March 2025, the updated capital cost per place for the remainder of the 14,000 additional prison places is £600,000 (in 2025/26 prices). Due to commercial sensitivities, this figure cannot be broken down any further.
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