Bid to expand Highpoint jail
Thursday, 28th March 2002.
Highpoint Prison could soon house 80 more inmates after the Prison Service unveiled plans to build two new temporary units.
The prison, which is based at Stradishall, near Haverhill, is urgently seeking to build the new units in an effort to cope with the region’s growing number of inmates.
The Prison Service has submitted a planning application to St Edmundsbury Borough Council and the authority has just two weeks to comment on the proposals.
Although the council cannot reject the idea as the land is owned by the Home Office, it can raise concerns about the expansion.
Highpoint currently houses 810 prisoners, including Norfolk farmer Tony Martin, who was jailed for shooting dead a teenage burglar, and Moors murderer Myra Hindley.
In a covering letter sent to St Edmundsbury with the application, the Prison Service says the installation of the units is being considered because of an ‘~urgent need to provide prison spaces”.
The two new temporary two storey buildings would house 40 prisoners each.
News of the possible expansion comes less than two weeks after it was revealed the prison population of England and Wales has risen to 70.100 — just a few hundred short of its current maximum capacity.
The prison, which is based at Stradishall, near Haverhill, is urgently seeking to build the new units in an effort to cope with the region’s growing number of inmates.
The Prison Service has submitted a planning application to St Edmundsbury Borough Council and the authority has just two weeks to comment on the proposals.
Although the council cannot reject the idea as the land is owned by the Home Office, it can raise concerns about the expansion.
Highpoint currently houses 810 prisoners, including Norfolk farmer Tony Martin, who was jailed for shooting dead a teenage burglar, and Moors murderer Myra Hindley.
In a covering letter sent to St Edmundsbury with the application, the Prison Service says the installation of the units is being considered because of an ‘~urgent need to provide prison spaces”.
The two new temporary two storey buildings would house 40 prisoners each.
News of the possible expansion comes less than two weeks after it was revealed the prison population of England and Wales has risen to 70.100 — just a few hundred short of its current maximum capacity.
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