Andy Burnham to turn prison laundries into cells in bid to solve overcrowding jails crisis

The Justice Secretary has maintained that prisons will "still function properly" amid concerns over ministerial plans to convert laundries into cells to cope with overcrowding.

Alex Norris stated that "hundreds of places" would be created by adapting current spaces within facilities into living quarters.

He refused to validate Conservative claims that the prison capacity is 700 places lower than last year, pointing out that the estate "fluctuates" due to occurrences such as fire damage.

Appearing on broadcast networks on Tuesday morning, Mr Norris prepared to announce a £110 million investment in Parliament to accelerate the creation of extra cells.

He is also expected to outline an early release scheme to MPs aimed at keeping prisons from reaching maximum capacity.

Using fast-tracked funding from current budgets, the Government intends to redevelop shared spaces and administrative offices to accommodate detainees.

Asked where clothes would be washed if laundry rooms were converted into cells, Mr Norris told BBC Breakfast: “Of course we’re going to make sure that the prisons can still function properly.

“This is a creative look, as I say, around our estate and being able to use some space that we can re-prioritise.”

He said wider plans – including building entire new prisons – would see 14,000 new places on top of the 3,200 prison places delivered in the last two years, “but that takes time”, while the conversion plans would add “in the hundreds of spaces”.

“In a system that’s running very hot, a few hundred places here and there makes a really big difference,” the Cabinet minister said.

Pressed on the Conservatives’ claim that there are 700 fewer prison places than in 2025, Mr Norris said the estate “fluctuates” because of planned and unplanned events affecting the Victorian-era buildings.

He told Times Radio: “Those wouldn’t necessarily be the numbers I’d use, but it is possible that places come out of the estate. For example, you know, there can be damage, fire damage. We’ve got a very old estate.”

Elsewhere, ministers have signed off on a contract that will pave the way for a new 1,700-capacity prison in Lancashire.

Over the weekend, Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced that the killers of Thames Valley police officer Andrew Harper will be excluded from early release, following significant public backlash.