ISG’s collapse will delay some prison projects by up to 18 months, adding further strain to the prison capacity crisis, a new National Audit Office report shows.
ISG was the Ministry of Justice’s (MoJ) main construction contractor for 17% of the prison expansion portfolio – totalling 3,634 prison places – when it went into administration in September.
The public spending watchdog has warned the government’s plan to expand the prison estate is five years behind schedule and will require up to £5.6bn of additional funding.
The MoJ projects a shortage of 12,400 prison places by the end of 2027, even if current expansion projects are delivered to revised timelines.
MoJ estimates that ISG’s insolvency will further delay the delivery of several individual projects by three to 18 months.
Impacted projects include those in the ‘Four new prisons’, ‘Category D expansion’, ‘Rapid deployment cells’ and ‘Other houseblocks and refurbishments’ schemes.
Some of the projects ISG was building when it collapsed include a £56m overhaul of HMP Liverpool to change it from a Category B to a Category C prison, and a £79m upgrade to HMP Guys Marsh in Dorset.
It was also one of the four contractors appointed to build a 1,500-space prison scheme in Buckinghamshire.
The MoJ intends to publish new prison population projections by mid-December 2024 and is currently updating its capacity projections to reflect ISG’s collapse.
The prison estate has been operating at close to full capacity since autumn 2022, with many prisons severely crowded.
