Revealed: Cost to taxpayers of keeping inmates locked up at Doncaster prisons

Ministry of Justice data shows the average bill per prisoner at HMP Hatfield, HMP Moorland, HMP Lindholme, and HMP Doncaster was £34,982 in 2019-20, the equivalent of £96 per day; £36,675, or £101 per day; £39,863, £109 per day; and £29,318, £80 per day; respectively.

With populations ranging from 370 and 1,097, this means a spend of between £13 million and £37 million to keep inmates behind bars last year.

The figures cover direct costs met by the prisons, as well as any cash needed to spend on centralised admin and management services.

Frances Crook, chief executive of the charity Howard League for Penal Reform, said decades spent funding an "overcrowded and overburdened prison system" have held the country back.

"It is costly to the taxpayer, but more importantly, it has fuelled more crime," she added.

"If we want safer communities, we must take sensible steps to reduce the prison population. Think of what could be achieved if we invested in schools and hospitals instead."

Across England and Wales, the average overall cost per prisoner was £42,700 in 2019-20, an increase of 3.7 per cent on the year before.

Young offender institutions for boys aged 15 to 17 had the highest costs on average, at £144,700, while male open prisons spent the least – £34,800 per inmate.

Alex Hewson, senior policy and communications officer at the Prison Reform Trust, said the increase is an acknowledgement that taxpayers have been "short changed" by crumbling prisons being run cheaply.

He said: "The effects of years of prison budgets being pared back to the bone have been plain for all to see. Rather than repeating the same mistakes of the past, we need to invest in more effective support and rehabilitation outside of our prisons to guide people away from crime, helping them – and their communities – to prosper."

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “We’ve invested in our prisons to make them safer and more effective at delivering the rehabilitation that will cut reoffending and crime.”

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