Nigel Farage's 'papier-mache' jails plan branded 'absolutely ridiculous' by prisons minister

The prisons minister has branded Nigel Farage’s plan to build prefabricated ad-hoc prisons “absolutely ridiculous”.

In a blistering attack, James Timpson warned that “papier-mache” jails would be “unsafe for staff and the public” as he dismissedthe Reform UK leader’s idea.

The minister, who has decades of experience in the justice sector, made the comment ahead of Reform UK’s annual conference, which kicks off on Friday. The Birmingham gathering is expected to be dominated by justice, crime and migration issues after Mr Farage’s summer ‘Lawless Britain’ campaign.

As part of this drive, Mr Farage in July said his party would spend £5billion to build five low-security ‘Nightingale’ prisons on disused Ministry of Defence land. He said the plan - inspired by temporary Nightingale hospitals set up in the pandemic - would create more than 12,000 spaces for lower risk offenders.

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Asked about the proposal, Lord Timpson told The Mirror: “I think it's absolutely ridiculous. You can't build papier mache prisons which are unsafe for staff and the public where these prisons are based.

“Building prisons is expensive, but they need to be secure. We're locking up very dangerous people and we need to make sure that staff who work there are safe and the public who live near there are safe too.”

Mr Farage has also said he would create another 10,000 jail spaces by sending serious criminals to serve their sentences abroad, at an estimated cost of £1.25bn.

Challenged on whether the Government would rent out jail cells in other countries, Lord Timpson suggested Labour’s overhaul of the justice system, as well as its commitment to build 14,000 prison places, was where it was focused.

“By the time we have the next general election, there'll be more people in prison than ever before in this country, and more people on probation, and that will be a sustainable justice system, which means that victims get served,” Lord Timpson said.

The Labour government this week introduced its landmark Sentencing Bill, which aims to ensure prisons never run out of space again. Under the legislation, offenders who behave well in jail will be able to earn earlier release dates - a model inspired by Texas’s justice system.

The Bill also includes bold new action to toughen up community punishment, including the increased use of travel, driving and football bans. But Labour are trailing behind Reform UK in the polls and such deep-rooted changes of the justice system could be at risk of being scrapped if Mr Farage is elected to No10.

Asked if he feared Mr Farage could one day reverse Labour’s reforms, Lord Timpson added: “Politicians and civil servants make the best decisions when they have the evidence in front of them, and if the evidence shows that this reduces reoffending, this protects the public, this is good for victims, then that's what you should do, and that's what we're doing.”

At the weekend, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood Mahmood said she has given herself six months to solve the prisons overcrowding crisis “once and for all”.

Reform UK has been contacted for comment.

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