Prisons, it has to be said, are often not a welcome addition to a local community- after all they bring so many criminals in! They can also be disruptive, bad for the image, and ugly. It is little surprise then that when the question of a new prison is raised the response is often not that positive. Unfortunately, it’s a question that must keep being asked. The Ministry of Justice’s own figures state that the capacity of the United Kingdom’s current prisons is 76,240. The same figures show that the current occupancy is 2,590 above that figure, a figure likely to keep increasing with a government constantly focussed on tackling crime solely by increasing the severity of sentences and creating new offences.

The latest occurrence of this question is in the Essex town of Braintree, where land at the former RAF Wethersfield base has been identified as prime ground for not one but two more prisons. We want to quote directly from the consultation description for a moment:

“Before we progress with these proposals, we want to engage with you and your local community to ensure your views are considered and to share with you the benefits that a potential new prison will bring to Wethersfield and the surrounding area, such as: creating new and local employment opportunities; offering apprenticeships; upskilling people in construction; and spending locally and with social enterprises.”

We consult for many different reasons and purposes, part of which is admittedly to convey the importance and benefits of proposals, but it is rare to see a plea of benefit comprising three quarters of the initial description. The initial description of a consultation is really the first point and first opportunity for potential respondents to engage with its subject matter on anything other than a surface ‘is this for me’ manner.

So, what does this one say to the reader? Well, there is an acknowledgement that they want to engage, but it’s overall dominated and somewhat drowned out by a list of benefits, which might be better placed elsewhere. Other than the general call, it doesn’t really cover even in the broadest terms what information is being sought. The description of course is not the place for the detail, but at least a broad appreciation so that the reader can identify if they can usefully contribute might be nice.

Turning to the consultation document, the story is much the same. It gives a little detail on the Government’s new prison programme before examining the travel access routes to the new prison that are being planned (though it does acknowledge that a ‘Transport Assessment and Travel plan’ is currently being prepared and is therefore not yet available to consultees). After that, and accompanied by some very nice artists impressions, it discusses what the new prison will look like, how the grounds around it will be landscaped and gives summaries of the benefits to the local community.

All in all, I would say a solid quarter of the 24 page document is devoted to both how lovely the facility will look, and what community and employment benefits might be derived from it. Other than the identification of the travel proposals (with the accompanying and aforementioned lack of analysis, there is little discussion, save in the FAQs which give brief stock answers with a positive framing, of any potential negative impacts.

The accompanying survey is similarly bare-bones. It contains only one question with any relation to the subject matter of the prison- “Thank you for reviewing out consultation materials on a potential new prisons [sic]. We would welcome your views, please leave your comments below”. Oh, and neither of the links to the survey work, the name of the location of the new proposed prisons is spelled wrong in the url and if you do copy the survey url into your search bar it still doesn’t work because there is a missing “-“. Not a great start to a major new development, is it? One of the prisons is a training and skills focussed one. Perhaps they could ask a prisoner on an IT course to take a look at it…