New UK PM Burnham pledges fastest prison building programme since Victorian era with 14,000 new places.
MOSCOW: New United Kingdom (UK) Prime Minister Andy Burnham has pledged to deliver the country’s largest prison construction programme since the Victorian era (1837-1901) within five years.
“The Government I lead will work to fix the prison crisis once and for all. I will not leave the same problems for my successors. We will deliver the fastest prison building programme since the Victorian era, with 14,000 new places expected by 2031,” Burnham said on the social media platform X on Tuesday.
Burnham added that he had also instructed the justice secretary to explore other ways to increase prison capacity.
In late July, the Daily Star news portal reported that nearly 2,500 prisoners, including about 100 convicted of sexual assault, would be released from British prisons due to overcrowding.
Burnham later said that those convicted of rape and serious sexual offences against children would be excluded from the programme.
