A few months ago I wrote a nomination regarding new “smart prison” – HMP Five Wells, which to my mind is nothing more than a hugely expensive hotel!
Well now it seems Five Wells is just part of a New Prisons Programme whereby a further 5 smart prisons are to be built at locations across the UK.
The latest one will cost £400m (probably £700m in reality) and will be built in East Yorkshire, with a “grand opening” in mid 2025.
The hotel… sorry, prison will have:-
“..an unprecedented array of workshops and classrooms, so prisoners spend their time behind bars learning new skills to find work on release.
It will also be the first new prison to operate as zero-carbon in the future, with an all-electric design, solar panels, heat pumps and more efficient lighting systems to reduce energy demand significantly.”
The construction will create hundreds of jobs including:-
“… at least 50 roles earmarked for ex-offenders – giving them the opportunity to rebuild their lives, gain new skills and get back on the straight and narrow.”
It will be interesting if this progressive attitude towards imprisonment, punishment and rehabilitation actually produces the results they anticipate. But quite honestly it does make me wonder why honest citizens always have to struggle to keep up with the cost of living and energy crisis while prisoners can enjoy a few months/years behind “bars” (which probably won’t exist at these places) knowing that they’ll get 3 meals a day, a nice warm dorm (no longer called a cell), internet access, courses, crafts and jobs.
Add to that those lucky old dinghy riders who have done nothing for the country but instead will be invited to stay at another type of hotel, this time 4* ones – one star below these “smart prisons”
If you can’t pay your electric or gas bills over winter simply default, plead guilty and hope you end up in one of these places for a couple of years!
Who said crime doesn’t pay?
Construction Enquirer News Link
Nominated by : Technocunt