Observers fear this untried formula will waste money and drive down prison workforce pay and conditions. Last December, Martin Narey, the Director-General of the Prison Service, suggested that some of the 37 old and outdated jails could be sold to property developers and the proceeds used to build new prisons on derelict city centre land. For critics, this raises uncomfortable issues. In the eight years since the private sector has run jails, the prison population has leapt 20,000 to 65,000. By 2005, it is projected that there could be 92,000 people locked up in England and Wales.
More prisons means bigger potential profits.
Companies in the lucrative business are ensuring that they play their part in prison policy. Private-sector firms sponsor academics and researchers help ing to formulate government penal and criminal justice policy. A number of private security firms have in the last two years sponsored policy-making conferences hosted by leading academic institutions. A senior IPPR official confirmed that Group 4 had helped fund IPPR research. But he stressed that Group 4 had neither contributed funds nor evidence to its report into PFI, due out in May.