Following the recent announcement that the new prison in Featherstone is to be called HMP Oakwood Gavin Williamson MP for South Staffordshire has called for no further prisons to be built in South Staffordshire. Gavin Williamson MP has written to Crispin Blunt MP, Parliamentary under Secretary of State at the Ministry of Justice with responsibilities for Prisons and Probation and he has spoken to the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice the Rt. Hon. Kenneth Clarke MP about the matter.
Currently there are 27 prisons in the Midlands and with HMP Oakwood opening in April there will be three based in South Staffordshire. HMP Oakwood will be one of the largest prisons in England and Wales providing places for up to 1605 Category C male prisoners. Another prison would bring a large number of increased vehicle movements to the area and following concerns about speculation raised by constituents Gavin Williamson decided to seek categorical assurances from the Government on this matter. Gavin Williamson MP believes that the current capacity is enough.
Commenting on this Gavin Williamson MP said:
‘There is already adequate prison capacity in the West Midlands and we certainly do not need another. Now that we have one of the largest prisons being built in South Staffordshire I think we are at maximum capacity. While I welcome the jobs that this prison will bring I would like to see the development of high tech, high skilled jobs in manufacturing bought to the area instead and this is why I welcome Jaguar Land Rover’s recent decision to build in the area.’