Some time ago, the Conservative party unveiled plans to create more prison places through selling off prime city centre prison sites and using the money to fund newer, more efficient prisons. It’s now been confirmed that this is unlikely to go ahead in the current economic climate by Channel 4 news:

Senior Conservative figures now accept privately that, particularly in the wake of the economic crisis and plummeting property prices, the original plans were “over-optimistic”. Instead, the Tories plan to convert some open jails into category C prisons, and focus much more heavily on rehabilitation so that those leaving prisons do not end up reoffending and returning to jail. This marks a fundamental rethink of the Tory promise that “prison works”. The mantra is now “rehabilitation, not incarceration”.