A prison officer walks through a cell block in an English prison as authorities face continued pressure from overcrowding.
A prison officer walks through a cell block in an English prison as authorities face continued pressure from overcrowding.
The government of England and Wales has announced plans to convert unused spaces inside existing prisons—including office areas, laundry rooms and storage spaces—into prison cells as ministers accelerate efforts to deal with overcrowding across the prison system.
The move is part of a wider £110 million investment announced by the Ministry of Justice to speed up the creation of additional prison places and expand the country's prison estate.
The government says the money will help accelerate construction and conversion projects as it works towards its long-term target of creating 14,000 additional prison places by 2031.
The announcement comes after years of pressure on prisons across England and Wales, with the government warning that the prison system needs more capacity to ensure there are enough places for offenders sentenced to custody.
Why Are Prisons Being Overcrowded?
England and Wales have experienced sustained pressure on prison capacity for several years.
The prison population increased significantly while the number of available cells failed to keep pace with demand.
Official figures show that there were 85,858 prisoners in England and Wales as of June 30, 2026. Although this represented a 2% decrease compared with the same period in 2025, the prison estate continues to face significant capacity and infrastructure pressures.
Earlier figures also showed that the prison population was significantly above the number of prisoners that the estate was originally designed to accommodate comfortably.
A report covering the prison service found that the prison population stood at almost 87,000 at the beginning of 2026, while the certified accommodation level was around 79,500. The report also recorded a crowding rate of 25% in the 12 months to March 2025.
This has created pressure not only on cells but also on staff, healthcare services, education facilities, workshops and other prison services.
Turning Existing Space Into Cells
The latest government plan is designed to make use of space that already exists inside prisons.
Instead of waiting entirely for new prisons to be constructed, ministers want prison authorities to identify areas that are currently being used for other purposes or are no longer needed and convert them into accommodation.
The Ministry of Justice specifically identified unused office space, laundry rooms and storage areas as examples of spaces that could be converted.
The £110 million investment has been fast-tracked from existing government budgets to allow the work to begin more quickly.
The idea is relatively straightforward: if a prison already has a building, security perimeter and other essential infrastructure, converting suitable unused areas may create additional capacity faster than constructing an entirely new prison.
However, converting a room into a prison cell is not as simple as putting a bed inside it.
The areas would need to meet appropriate security, safety, sanitation and accommodation requirements before prisoners could be housed there.
A Wider Prison-Building Programme
The conversion of existing spaces is only one part of the government's much larger prison expansion programme.
The government has committed to creating 14,000 additional prison places by 2031, making it one of the largest prison-building programmes in England and Wales since the Victorian era.
The programme includes the construction of new prisons, expansion of existing establishments, refurbishment projects and temporary or rapidly deployable accommodation.
Government documents say thousands of the new places will come from expanding existing prison sites and refurbishing parts of the current estate.
The government has also been investing billions of pounds into the wider programme.
A Ministry of Justice document says the 2026-27 to 2029-30 spending period includes £4.7 billion to support delivery of the additional prison places.
New 1,700-Place Prison in Lancashire
As part of the latest announcement, the government confirmed that it has signed a contract to begin work on a new prison in Lancashire.
The planned prison is expected to provide approximately 1,700 places.
The project is another major part of the government's attempt to increase the number of available prison places and prevent the system from reaching a point where there are no cells available for newly sentenced prisoners.
The government says accelerating construction will help ensure that additional capacity becomes available before future pressure becomes unmanageable.
Why Not Just Build New Prisons?
Building a completely new prison can take years because of planning, land acquisition, construction and security requirements.
That is why the government is pursuing several approaches at the same time.
Converting unused areas inside existing prisons could potentially provide capacity faster.
Refurbishing existing cells can also return accommodation that is currently out of use.
At HMP Liverpool, for example, a major refurbishment programme has involved bringing hundreds of cells back into use and improving security, sanitation, ventilation and other facilities. The project is expected to return 381 previously unusable cells to operational status and upgrade around 800 cells overall.
The government is therefore trying to increase capacity by making better use of existing buildings while simultaneously constructing new facilities.
The Prison System Almost Ran Out of Space
The urgency behind the programme can be understood from the government's previous warnings about prison capacity.
In January 2026, the Ministry of Justice said projections showed that England and Wales could have completely run out of prison places by June without government intervention.
The government described the situation as a serious capacity crisis and said sentencing reforms and a major expansion of the prison estate were necessary to put the system on a more sustainable footing.
The crisis has forced ministers to consider a range of measures to manage the prison population while new capacity is developed.
The latest decision to convert unused spaces is therefore part of a broader strategy rather than a standalone policy.
Concerns About Prison Conditions
While the government wants to increase the number of cells, the move also raises questions about prison conditions.
Prisoners require more than simply a place to sleep.
Prisons must provide access to healthcare, sanitation, education, rehabilitation, exercise, meals, legal services and other essential services.
Government guidance states that prison residential services include areas such as cell furnishings, clothing, bedding, bathrooms, laundry, meals and time outside cells.
This means that any office, storage room or other space converted into a cell would have to be appropriately equipped and made suitable for secure accommodation.
There are also concerns about whether adding more prisoners could place additional pressure on already stretched prison staff and facilities.
A 2025 inspection of prison work and training found that overcrowding, ageing infrastructure and shortages of workshop space and instructors were already affecting purposeful activity in prisons.
The Government's Argument
Ministers argue that increasing prison capacity is necessary to protect the public and ensure that dangerous offenders can be kept in custody.
The government says its programme will provide additional places while also improving the condition of the prison estate.
Justice Secretary Alex Norris said the government was serious about fixing what it described as a broken prison system and that investment was being accelerated to deliver thousands of additional places.
The government has also emphasised that its prison programme is intended to support rehabilitation and reduce reoffending, rather than simply increase the number of people held behind bars.
What About Foreign National Offenders?
The government's latest announcement also includes measures designed to remove foreign national offenders from the prison system more quickly where legally possible.
The aim is to reduce pressure on prison capacity by returning eligible foreign nationals to their countries rather than keeping them in English and Welsh prisons when removal is appropriate.
This is being pursued alongside the construction programme and the conversion of existing prison space.
The government has also discussed reforms relating to prisoners serving Imprisonment for Public Protection, or IPP, sentences.
These sentences were abolished for new cases in 2012, but some people who received them before abolition remain under the system.
A Long-Term Solution or a Temporary Fix?
The conversion of offices, laundry rooms and storage areas into cells is likely to be viewed as an immediate capacity measure rather than a complete solution to the prison crisis.
The government's long-term plan depends heavily on constructing new prisons and expanding existing facilities.
The Ministry of Justice says its programme includes three new prisons, expansion and refurbishment of the existing estate, and additional accommodation.
The challenge will be ensuring that new places become available quickly enough to match demand.
If the prison population continues to rise faster than capacity, additional construction could again be placed under pressure.
What Happens Next?
The government is now accelerating work on additional prison places.
The £110 million investment is intended to speed up projects already planned and make use of existing spaces within prisons.
At the same time, work will continue on new prison construction, including the planned 1,700-place facility in Lancashire.
The government is also investing in land so that it can develop a stronger pipeline of future prison projects.
Officials say the objective is to ensure England and Wales do not again reach a situation where the prison system is close to completely running out of places.
Conclusion
The decision to convert unused prison offices, laundry rooms and storage areas into cells is one of the latest responses to the continuing prison-capacity crisis in England and Wales.
The government has committed £110 million to accelerate the creation of additional prison places, while maintaining a wider target of 14,000 new places by 2031.
The strategy combines several approaches: converting existing space, refurbishing unused cells, expanding current prisons and constructing new facilities.
The immediate goal is to create enough accommodation to prevent prisons from running out of space, while the longer-term objective is to build a prison estate capable of meeting future demand.
However, the challenge is not simply about the number of cells.
Prisons also need enough staff, healthcare, rehabilitation programmes, education, security and other services to operate effectively.
As the government moves ahead with its ambitious expansion programme, the success of the plan will ultimately depend on whether it can create additional capacity without sacrificing safety, prison conditions and rehabilitation.
For now, ministers are betting on a combination of new construction and creative use of existing prison buildings to relieve pressure on a system that has been operating under considerable strain.