Liverpool Daily Post
By BEN SCHOFIELD
December 8, 2008
Building a giant “Titan” prison on the M62 near Warrington will only duplicate the “serious mistakes” of the “discredited” American criminal justice system, a leading academic will warn today.
US civil rights lawyer Professor Bryan Stevenson will say the 2,500-inmate “warehouse” will undermine efforts to cut crime by rehabilitating offenders.
Prof Stevenson will attack Justice Secretary Jack Straw’s plans for the £400m jail during the Prison Reform Trust’s annual lecture.
The Daily Post revealed in September that Warrington could house one of three of the huge prisons.
The Ministry of Justice has suggested buying a slice of the 550-acre Omega Business Park, off the M62, for the jail. Two others are planned in London and the West Midlands. Around 500 local people attended a public meeting in Burtonwood in early October to rail against the proposal.
Warrington Borough Council leader Cllr Ian Marks and his deputy Cllr Keith Bland have said they would say an “emphatic no” to the suggestion of another prison in the area, but the Government could still force it through.
Prof Stevenson, who teaches at New York University, will deliver a lecture entitled “Warning from America: the social and economic impact of over-incarceration and how to avoid it”.
He will say: “This is a time when fear and anger about crime and security is very high, which is why our thinking about crime policy has to be sober, sensible and effective.
“The US has made serious mistakes with its criminal justice policy over the last 35 years, the UK should learn from these mistakes, reject the idea of Titan prisons and pursue cost-effective, humane and responsible strategies that avoid mass incarceration and inspires hopefulness rather than imprisonment which has devastated many American communities.”
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice said: “We have already made clear that we are not going to build giant warehouses – it is envisaged that each complex will be made up of smaller units – for example, five units of 500 places within one prison.
“We want to bring the resources we have to reduce re-offending together in one place. Our aim is to provide better value for money and better opportunities to rehabilitate prisoners.”