I was told a couple of years back that Lambeth had discussed closing Brixton Prison and turning it into an Industrial Estate. I was told this was due to new rules forcing London Boroughs to be more responsible for collecting their own business rates rather than drawing from a central pot (over recent years Lambeth has lost much of its business premises to residential). An article in the current Lambeth Weekender makes interesting reading…
A new report has recommend Brixton Prison be closed under Justice Secretary Chris Grayling’s plan for the ‘next generation of prisons’.
Brixton is one of 30 ‘damp Victorian dungeons’ named in the report by Kevin Lockyer, a former senior Ministry of Justice official, for right-of-centre think-tank Policy Exchange.
He said swapping the older prisons for ten to twelve new ‘hub’ jails would save 20 per cent of the annual prison budget in England and Wales.
Chris Grayling responded: “The report is absolutely right to highlight that much of our prison estate is old and inefficient, and that we need to bring its cost down.”
Grayling has previously supported the idea of building at least one new ‘super-jail’ to house 2,000 inmates, and in January announced he was considering three sites in London, the North-West of England or North Wales.
This is despite David Cameron earlier stating that ‘big was not beautiful’ in regard to prisons.
Wandsworth, which houses 1,600 inmates, was described as the country’s ‘most unsafe’ jail by the Chief Inspector of Prisons.
Mr Grayling did not comment on whether or not Birxton is currently fit for purpose.