Titan (prison)

Titan Prison or Titan gaol was a proposed new classification of prison in England and Wales, designed to increase the overall prison capacity and improve operational efficiency.

In plans announced in December 2007, the Titan concept included the proposed construction of three new prisons each housing 2,500 inmates, well above the 1,461 capacity of the largest prison at the time, HMP Wandsworth in London.

After much opposition and criticism, the plans were understood to have been dropped on 24 April 2009, with the postulated reason being difficulty in gaining planning permission for the new sites. It was expected that capacity would instead be increased through the creation of five new 1,500-capacity prisons, with two to be started immediately.

In a related change, in 2008, the operational management of three existing closely located prisons were merged to form the newly named Hewell (HM Prison), in an effort to improve efficiency, while retaining the existing buildings.

Labour Government Justice Minister Jack Straw initiated a review of over-crowding in the prison system, which resulted in the December 2007 report, Securing the Future - Proposals for the efficient and sustainable use of custody in England and Wales, produced by Lord Carter of Coles Review of Prisons [1].

The report amongst other issues proposed the building three new prisons larger than any before built. The existing largest prisons held on average 1,461 prisoners. The new Titan jails would hold 2,500 prisoners each.

There were three proposed Titan prisons, one initially due to be completed in 2012, with the other 2 in 2014. Likely locations were in London, the West Midlands and the North West of England.

The location for the proposed Titan Prison in the North West was the Omega business park in of Warrington.

The Titan Prison for the London area may have been located in the Thames corridor region.

The Titan prisons were to have comprised five units, each with about 500 offenders in different segments. The segments would have been served by central catering and healthcare facilities. The new prisons would have incorporated technology by design, including electronic locking and bio-metric identification.

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