Plans for Sheppey prison expansion revealed

Plans to expand an open prison on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent have been submitted to the local council.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) wants permission to build four additional housing blocks for a total of 240 inmates at HMP Standford Hill on Church Road, Eastchurch.

The facility is a category D open prison with lower security where eligible prisoners can spend most of the day away from the prison on licence.

No date is set for Swale Borough Council (SBC) to decide on the planning application, but a deadline of 20 September is in place.

The application to expand Standford Hill states: “The existing workshop will be refurbished to create a light industry timber workshop (such as furniture making).”

The prison will also get a new “training kitchen facility with dining hall and servery to accommodate up to 700 residents” under the proposals, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

A new records office, library with multimedia facilities and a healthcare office are also proposed.

The application forms part of a prison expansion project announced in 2019, originally intended to deliver 10,000 new places.

HMP Standford Hill is one of three prisons on the island including high security category A site HMP Swaleside and category B and C prison HMP Elmley.

The plans come amid concerns about a lack of spaces in UK prisons.

On 25 June the Prison Governors’ Association (PGA) said "the entire criminal justice system stands on the precipice of failure", due to a lack of spaces.

The MoJ’s weekly bulletin released on 21 June showed 87,395 inmates, with a maximum capacity of 88,778 across all prisons.

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