New ‘smart’ prison to give sense of life on the outside

The Justice Secretary has denied claims that a newly designed ‘smart’ prison will be a ‘soft touch.’

The category C prison, which will be the first of six of its type, is based in Wellington, Northamptonshire. It was opened to inmates last month. 

Offenders who have made good progress with their sentences  and demonstrated that they could be managed with greater levels of freedom will be those who stay in such prisons. 

With a capacity of 1,700, HMP Five Wells does not have bars on its windows and will provide prisoners with access to a gym, snooker table, table tennis table as well as a tablet to enable inmates to work towards qualifications. 

In addition, 24 workshops will be hosted and inmates will be able to get on-the-job training in areas including coding, car maintenance, plumbing and engineering. 

Staff will describe cells as “rooms” and prisoners as “residents” in a bid to maintain resemblance to life on the outside. 

During a visit to the jail on Thursday, Justice Secretary Dominic Raab said: “I’m interested in punishment, because that’s what the public expect, but I’m not really interested in stigmatising in a way that’s counter-productive to my aim of driving down re-offending.

“What you’ve heard about, which I like, is the idea of giving offenders something to lose.

“If you come to a place like this with the gym, the workshops, the ability to do the skills education, you get a glimmer of the future as to how your life could be.

“Then it’s up to the offender to take that second chance and if they don’t, they lose those entitlements, they lose those perks.”

The Ministry of Justice has said HMP Five Wells is the first prison to be built with “education, training and jobs at its heart,” Mr Raab has said he would personally be answerable for its effectiveness, which will be measured using key performance indicators. 

Due to the lack of bars, the windows themselves were described by Mr Raab as high and secure. A side benefit of this, he told reporters, is that there will be less contraband coming in. 

“There’s no doubt about it, prisons need to be secure, they need to punish, but they also need to try to give, because most offenders are going to be released, a sense of what life on the outside looks like.”