HMP Lancaster Farms will grow from 584 to 824 places once building work at the prison is complete.
The new cells will have modern security features, such as reinforced windows, to counter threats including drones carrying contraband. The project will also add a workshop where prisoners can gain training and skills. Construction should finish by the end of the year.
The expansion is part of the Small Secure Houseblocks Programme. That programme will deliver 1,080 new category C places across six prison sites. Its funding comes from the £4.7 billion the Government is putting into prison building during the 2026/27 to 2029/30 spending review period.
The new houseblocks follow the recent signing of a contract for a new 1,700-place prison in the same Lancashire area. Currently known as ‘Garth 2’, the prison can now move into its first phase of work.
The Government describes its plans as the largest prison expansion programme since the Victorian era. It aims to add 14,000 places across England and Wales by 2031.
At HMP Kirklevington Grange, work has started on 152 new places, with the aim of easing prison overcrowding. The extra accommodation will consist of Rapid Deployment Cells (RDCs). These prefabricated units, known as pods, are popular with prisoners.
Two prisoners from Kirklevington Grange have found work on the foundations at the site. Elsewhere, the construction firm Reds10 employs prisoners on temporary release to help make RDC units for the wider estate. The company now has three prison leavers on its permanent staff.
“We inherited prisons on the brink of collapse, with the system days from running out of places and dangerous criminals at risk of having nowhere to go,” said Catherine McKinnell, Minister for Prisons, Probation and Reducing Reoffending.
She said the Government was fixing that failure by building prison places across the country. She added: “We’ve already delivered 3,300 places across the country and we’re investing billions to build thousands more, creating jobs and making our streets safer.”
HMP Lancaster Farms is a category C prison for men in the North West. Its last full inspection before this announcement took place in December 2022. Inspectors rated safety, respect, and rehabilitation and release planning as reasonably good. They judged purposeful activity not sufficiently good.
HMP Kirklevington Grange is a category D open prison for men in the North East. Its last full inspection, in December 2024, rated all four areas as good.
