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Prison Officers Association slams government for raising operating capacity of overcrowded prisons
Trade union says prison face a 'perfect storm of rising population, lack of staff and too few cells'
Prison officers’ union POA accused the government yesterday of failing to protect the public after it announced plans to “raise capacity” at bursting jails by cramming more prisoners into existing sites.
An extra 440 places were announced this week by the Ministry of Justice and the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), but all will be in established prisons.
This is in addition to a further 900 places in private jails.
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