Super prisons are a step backwards, Clarke says

London: Former home secretary Charles Clarke has denounced plans to build up to three "Titan" super prisons as a "major step backwards" in a powerful attack on government penal policy.

In a speech that will be seized upon by critics, Clarke said proposals to construct the 2,500-cell jails including one in London would undermine efforts to cut re-offending and "should be stopped" immediately.

He said that instead there should be a "wholesale change in direction" by ministers, with efforts focused on the creation of a network of community-based prisons that would be better able to rehabilitate offenders and reduce crime.

Clarke's comments are the most significant criticism so far of government plans to build the new Titan jails as part of a £2.7 billion (Dh14.7 billion) drive to increase the number of prison places by 2016.

The first of the super prisons is due to open within three years, with the other two scheduled for 2014, and further details of the plans are due to be announced by Justice Secretary Jack Straw soon.

But in a speech at a criminal justice conference in the Isle of Man, Clarke insisted that pressing ahead with the huge new prisons would be a serious blunder. He said this was because the best way to rehabilitate offenders was to detain them in prisons close to their homes, where they could be kept in touch with the support services needed to steer them away from crime when they were freed.

This objective would, he said, be harmed by the use of Titan prisons, which would lead to more inmates being held far away and result in more, rather than less, reoffending.

Warning that there was already a serious mismatch between the provision of local prison places and the number needed, Clarke added: "This imbalance is made worse by the Government's current proposals for so-called Titan super prisons. In my strong opinion these are a major step backwards. The programme should be stopped and a commitment to community-based prisons established as the policy of the Government."