Since May 1997, over 20,000 prison places have been delivered, of which 5,397 were provided by the private sector under agreements reached post May 1997.
The following table shows the number of prison places provided through the PFI initiative:
Location Date of contract Certified Normal Accommodation—pre May 1997 CNA—post May 1997 Overcrowding—post May 1997 Total under current Administration Total Op Cap1 Altcourse2 20 December 1995 838 — 180 180 1,018 Rye Hill 23 July 1999 — 800 45 645 645 Forest Bank 6 July 1998 — 800 264 1,064 1,064 Lowdham Grange2 7 November 1996 — 504 60 564 564 Dovegate 27 September 1999 — 800 60 860 860 Ashfield3 1 July 1998 — 400 0 400 400 Peterborough 4 February 2003 — 840 108 948 948 Bronzefield 20 December 2002 — 450 0 450 450 Parc 4 January 1996 614 — 286 286 1,086 Total 4,394 1,003 5,397 7,035 1 Op Cap as at 26 January 2007. 2 308 place houseblocks currently under construction—places available in phases from April 2007. 3 HMP Ashfield transfers to the Youth Justice Board in April 2007. Note: The “Certified Normal Accommodation” is the uncrowded capacity of the establishment. Operational capacity is the total number of prisoners that an establishment can hold taking into account control, security and the proper operation of the planned regime. It is determined by operational managers on the basis of operational judgment and experience. Within the private prison estate the CNA is built into the contract and defined as available prisoner places. When the prison exceeds the CNA up to a pre-agreed level (Operational Capacity) these extra places are defined as ‘Additional Prisoner Places’ and is achieved by overcrowding.