Government set to scrap Titan Prisons

Justice Secretary Jack Straw is set to abandon £1.3billion plans to build three 2,500-place Titan prisons. Instead he is expected to unveil plans for five smaller 1,500-place jails, with two set to go ahead immediately, which will appease the potenetional construction bidders

A plan to buy a prison ship with 450 places has also been abandoned, after building a traditional jail was found to be 25 per cent cheaper.

The Titan prison programme was put forward as a result of a Whitehall review of prison overcrowding by Lord Carter of Coles in December 2007.He said an extra 10,500 prison places were needed to house a projected prison population of 96,000 in England and Wales by 2014.The prison population has stablised at 82,773 in recent months, 2,000 below current capacity, giving ministers some breathing space.