You may have seen these seemingly contradictory claims being made by the Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Conservative party leader Kemi Badenoch amid debate surrounding plans to make thousands of prisoners eligible for earlier release in October.
Mr Burnham appears to have been referencing figures published in an ad-hoc release by the Ministry of Justice in October 2024.
These figures showed that the net increase in prison places in England and Wales between May 2010 and April 2024—the month the Conservatives entered government and the last full month before the 2024 general election was called—was 482.
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The 14,000 figure Ms Badenoch used also matches figures in the same ad-hoc release, which showed that a total of 14,142 new prison places were created over the same period. We’ve asked the Conservatives if this is what she was referring to.
The 482 figure represents these newly created prison places, minus 11,651 prison places that were closed over the same period due to either prison closures or cell dilapidation, and a 2,009 decrease in capacity for other reasons.
