The UK prison system came within days of total collapse on multiple occasions between 2022-24, according to a major independent review that appears to have deliberately avoided mentioning HMP Wandsworth despite the local prison being at the centre of the crisis.
Dame Anne Owers’ comprehensive report [pdf] reveals that at one point fewer than 100 spaces remained in adult male prisons nationwide, forcing emergency COBR meetings and consideration of using Civil Contingencies Act powers to prevent the criminal justice system from breaking down entirely.
The review covers what officials described as an 18-month “permacrisis” – a period when Wandsworth Prison was making headlines almost weekly for overcrowding, safety failures, and dire conditions that led to damning inspection reports and widespread criticism.
Wandsworth’s problems described – but not named
Strikingly, while the review extensively documents the exact conditions that plagued HMP Wandsworth during this period, it never mentions the prison by name. Instead, it uses euphemisms like “one London prison” and “local prisons” to describe scenarios that Wandsworth residents will recognise from news coverage of their local facility.
The report describes how local prisons saw reception numbers double during the crisis, with facilities jumping from 300 to 650 admissions per month. Staff regularly worked until 11pm instead of 7pm, and prisoners arrived as late as 1am after lengthy journeys from distant courts – all problems extensively documented at Wandsworth Prison.
“One London prison was releasing around 70 prisoners a week, 20 to 25 of whom were immediate releases from court,” the review notes, describing the kind of chaotic turnover that became routine at the Heathfield Road facility.
The review also highlights how probation services in London faced vacancy rates of up to 41% – directly impacting prisoners being released into the community with inadequate support.
New vs old: A Tale of Two Strategies
The report’s focus is decidedly forward-looking, dedicating significant attention to new facilities that have opened in recent years. HMP Five Wells (opened 2022, £253m), HMP Fosse Way (2023, £283m), and HMP Millsike (2025, £400m) are presented as modern solutions, with detailed costings and capacity figures.
Three more new prisons are planned at sites near existing facilities, promising an additional 4,850 places by 2031 under a £7 billion five-year investment program.
This emphasis on new-build solutions, contrasted with the omission of Victorian-era institutions, suggests the review’s underlying message: it may be time to replace rather than repair the prison estate’s oldest and most problematic facilities.
The review does however made it clear that Victorian-era prisons are struggling. It notes that “some of our oldest prisons are still in use” and discusses how “the fabric of the buildings makes it difficult to offer a decent regime.”
The maintenance backlog across the prison estate has grown from £1.2 billion to £1.8 billion, with aging facilities like Wandsworth Prison bearing the brunt of infrastructure problems that make modern prison operations increasingly difficult.
What happens next?
Dame Anne Owers recommends creating independent oversight of prison capacity and investing heavily in community alternatives. However, with prison population projected to reach 100,800 by 2029 – the highest level ever – fundamental questions about prison real estate remain unanswered.
The review’s emphasis on new, modern facilities while documenting the problems of aging institutions suggests an unspoken conclusion: it may be time to replace rather than repair the Victorian-era prisons that have become symbols of systemic failure.
The Independent Review of Prison Capacity was commissioned following the 2022-24 crisis that required multiple emergency early release schemes and brought the criminal justice system to the brink of collapse.
