A NEW super prison could be built in Feltham under government proposals announced today.


The new adult jail would replace Feltham Young Offender Institution and would include a youth facility.

The Ministry of Justice today revealed today it had launched a feasibility study into the new prison.

Precise details of the proposed size of the facility have yet to be announced but a super prison to be built in Wrexham will hold 2,000 inmates.


The proposals are part of government plans to close older prisons across the country and replace them with a smaller number of large facilities, dubbed super prisons.

The Ministry of Justice today confirmed it was building a 2,000-place prison in Wales and closing cour older prisons, which are either expensive to run or need major investment.

Justice secretary Chris Grayling said: "This is the latest part of our plan to modernise our prisons and bring down costs while making sure that by the next election we still have access to more prison places than we inherited in 2010.

"The Feltham site is a very large one, and is an obvious option for a major new project to help meet the challenges we face in London and the south east."

Feltham Young Offender Institution, which has a population of 762, was labelled 'unacceptably violent' in a report by HM Inspectorate of Prisons in July.

Feltham & Heston MP Seema Malhotra said she would be scrutinising any plans for a new prison very closely, including whether it would involve building on greenbelt land, and had asked for details of planned consultation.

She added that the new prison could provide new jobs in the area but it was important any additional policing costs were met by the Government.

The Chronicle reported in June how the existing prison, in Bedfont Road, Feltham, could close under plans for a major shake up of the prison system.