The Voice

£853 a night – Lib Dems reveal true cost cost of locking up prisoners in police cells

By | Mon 16th March 2009 - 9:15 am

The BBC reports:

The cost of housing prison inmates in police cells is double the amount previously thought, the Lib Dems claim. The Ministry of Justice says it costs £385 a night to detain an inmate in a police station when prisons are full. But the Lib Dems say the true cost of ‘Operation Safeguard’ is £853 a night – a figure disputed by the government.

The article quotes Lib Dem justice spokesperson Paul Holmes:

For this amount of money, you could stay in the Ritz. … The government’s incompetence in managing our prison system is staggering and has left the taxpayer picking up a huge bill. Ministers have severely and consistently underestimated the knock-on costs of prison overcrowding. The government has put us in this hopeless position by failing to plan for the future while putting record numbers behind bars in an effort to appear tough on crime.”

Read more by or more about or .
This entry was posted in News.
Advert

3 Comments

  • simonsez 16th Mar '09 - 3:31pm

    What a staggering number.
    It would be interesting to see how it breaks down.
    I wonder what knock on costs the home office have excluded from their figure.

Post a Comment

Lib Dem Voice welcomes comments from everyone but we ask you to be polite, to be on topic and to be who you say you are. You can read our comments policy in full here. Please respect it and all readers of the site.

To have your photo next to your comment please signup your email address with Gravatar.

Your email is never published. Required fields are marked *

*
*
Please complete the name of this site, Liberal Democrat ...?

Advert

Recent Comments

  • David Raw
    @ Peter Martin. A further thought. Mandelson may have been appointed because his knowledge of Trump’s varied activities gave him a special hold over said Pres...
  • paul barker
    Is The UK Ungovernable ? No, its hysterical bollox & plays into the hands of The Far-Right....
  • paul barker
    There have been 27 Councillors elected since May 7th - 3 of them are Reform, that's 1 in 9 or 11%. Another striking feature is the number of Reform losses, s...
  • Matt (Bristol)
    Peter Martin, when you reply to me about Transport house I don't think you've read the foregoing comments from me and David Raw. Anyway, back to the future....
  • Rif Winfield
    Mick, Burnham's real problems will start after he moves into No.10 and finally faces his true opponents - the Labour establishment and their Treasury backers. ...