Work is set to begin on a 1,700-place category C prison next to HMP Garth and HMP Wymott, while Serco has secured two more years running HMP Doncaster.
Independent monitors say Serco ordered the removal of artworks made by prisoners at HMP Doncaster, which had been put up to brighten court cells.
Two portable workshop buildings due by March 2026 will add 80 activity places a session, according to the Prison Service’s response to an inspection report.
The Jack Reacher author visited men taking part in the Prisons Literacy Project, which he funds and which could expand to 20 more jails with government backing.
The busy Serco-run reception prison stayed calm and well ordered, inspectors found, but self-harm had risen and one in five men left with nowhere to live.
The inspectorate's report on HMP & YOI Doncaster, published in June 2022, found falling violence and good rehabilitation work, though most men spent only about two and a half hours a day out of cell.
The inspectorate's report on HMP & YOI Doncaster, published in January 2020, found five self-inflicted deaths in a year, easy access to drugs and around 700 men doubled up in cells built for one.
