Despite plans to create an extra 14,000 prison cells by 2031, the UK still faces the prospect of running out of space for inmates. The dire prediction has prompted justice secretary Shabana Mahmood to warn radical overhauls could be coming for Britain’s justice system.
This is expected to include how prisoners are managed and the punishments handed out for different crimes.
While local authorities have been urged to fast track applications for new prisons or applications to extend and expand existing facilities, the Labour cabinet minister was blunt in admitting: “We will have more offenders monitored outside [prisons].”
Here, Yahoo News UK takes a look at Britain’s penal system and how offenders are currently punished and prepared to re-enter society.
Adult male prisons:
Category A
The most high security institutions in the UK’s prisons estate.
They are reserved for male prisoners who, if they were to escape, would pose the greatest threat to the public, the police or wider national security.
This includes people convicted of the most serious crimes, such as murder, rape, armed robbery, drug smuggling or terrorism.
This is the nearest equivalent the UK has to the ‘supermax’ or maximum security prison category in the US.
Category A includes some of Britain’s most notorious prisons, such as HMP Belmarsh, in London; HMP Frankland, in County Durham; and HMP Manchester, formerly known as Strangeways.
These have held some of the UK’s most infamous convicts, including Wayne Couzens, who kidnapped and killed Sarah Everard; Ian Huntley, the murderer of 10-year-old school girls, Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman; serial killer GP Harold Shipman; and Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper.
Charles Bronson, one of Britain’s most notorious prisoners, has been held in most of the UK’s high security prisons.
Category B
These can be ‘local’ or ‘training’ prisons.
Local prisons are used to hold prisoners brought directly from nearby courts to be held on remand or once they have been sentenced.
Training prisons focus on rehabilitation, treatment for addictions and preparing inmates for reintegration into society.
High Street chain Timpson, which is known for employing former prisoners, opened a shoe repair workshop in HMP Liverpool, a Category B prison, to train inmates in 2008.
Category B prisons are primarily used for offenders with long custodial sentences who are deemed not to need maximum security facilities, but who are still considered to pose a significant risk.
Category B includes well-known prisons such as HMP Wormwood Scrubs, in London, and HMP Parkhurst, on the Isle of Wight.
Wormwood Scrubs has, at various points, housed the late EastEnders actor Leslie Grantham and musicians Pete Doherty and Keith Richards.
HMP Wormwood Scrubs is one of the UK’s oldest – and best known – prisons. (Getty Images)
Category C
The bulk of Britain’s prisoner population is held in Category C institutions, which are supposed to be used for ‘training and resettlement’.
These prisons are supposed to offer opportunities for skills development so inmates can find work more easily on release.
Often, those housed in Category C prisons have been deemed not suitable for an ‘open prison’, but are not considered to pose a high risk of escape.
There is also supposed to be an emphasis on educational and vocational programs to support rehabilitation.
HMP Brixton, in London, is perhaps the best-known of Britain’s Category C prisons, and has held a diverse range of prisoners, such as the Kray Twins, Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger and disgraced former MP Imran Ahmad Khan.
Provisional IRA member Dolours Price and her sister Marian, currently subjects of Disney+ series Say Nothing, were also housed in the prison.
HMP Brixton is now also home to fine dining restaurant The Clink, where all kitchen staff and waiters are serving prisoners.
Category D
Also often referred to as ‘open prisons’, these have minimal security and allow some prisoners to spend most of their day away from the institution ‘on licence’ for work, education or other approved purposes.
Jeffrey Archer, the novelist and disgraced former MP, served part of his four-year sentence for perjury at Hollesley Bay, nicknamed “Holiday Bay”, on the Suffolk coast.
Following his conviction for perjury, former MP Jeffrey Archer was at one point held at HMP Hollesley Bay – also nicknamed ‘Holiday Bay. (Getty Images)
Youth offenders
Young Offender Institution (YOI)
These are for male offenders aged 18-21 and offer education, training and other rehabilitation programmes aimed at this age bracket.
Youth Custody
For children and teenagers under the age of 18 who have been sentenced or ordered by a court to be held on remand.
Women
Female closed prisons
These are for women categorised as ‘restricted status’, meaning they have been convicted of the most serious crimes and are deemed to pose a risk to security or of escape.
Like male prisons, they also offer rehabilitation programmes dealing with substance abuse and education to aid them on release.
One of the most well-known and high-security examples is HMP Low Newton, in Country Durham.
Following her murder convictions in 2023, baby killer Lucy Letby was reportedly taken to HMP Low Netwon, in County Durham, which has previously housed some of Britain’s most notorious female criminals. (Cheshire Constabulary via AP)
Located close to HMP Frankland, which has held some of the UK’s most notorious male prisoners, Low Newton has housed serial killer Rose West and Anne Darwin, wife of ‘Canoe Man’ John Darwin.
Baby killer and former nurse Lucy Letby was also dispatched to Low Newton following her conviction on seven murder charges in 2023.
Female open prisons
Low security facilities are used for women nearing the end of their sentences
What determines the type of prison someone will be sent to?
In England and Wales, the status of prisoners is determined by:
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Their risk of escape
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The risk of harm to the public, if they escape
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Their threat to the overall control and stability of whichever prison they are sent to