Paul Goggins
Main Page: Paul Goggins (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)Department Debates - View all Paul Goggins's debates with the Ministry of Justice
(14 years ago)
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Paul Goggins (Wythenshawe and Sale East) (Lab)
According to the latest figures, more than half the prisons in England and Wales are officially overcrowded. If the Minister is ultimately successful in reducing the number of prisoners, what will his priority be—to close prisons or to reduce overcrowding?
Mr Blunt
It is a bit rich for the right hon. Gentleman to ask that question. As a former Prisons Minister, he bears part of the responsibility for the level of overcrowding that we have inherited.
Sadly, the answer is that we are not in a position to create enough prison places to be able to address the problem of overcrowding. That will probably have to wait for more economically propitious times. It will take us a while to get the economy into the shape that will enable us to deal with the prison overcrowding that we have inherited.