In The Loop: 03/08/08

Crisis is set to worsen as jails run out of cells

Britain's jails will struggle to cope with a predicted rise in prisoner numbers because the government plans to build far fewer cells than may be needed, The Observer has established.

Minutes from a private briefing given by the Justice Minister, David Hanson, to senior prison staff, civil servants and penal experts indicate that the government is facing a cells crisis.

'Our projections show we're going to need something like 96,000 prison places by 2012, 2014,' Hanson told the briefing last month. In a transcript seen by The Observer, he also expressed a desire to remove 6,000 prison places dating from Victorian times, which have long been criticised by penal reformers. [Guardian]

Energy giants forced to act on fuel poverty

Energy companies are to be told to reallocate some of the £3bn they must spend to reduce carbon emissions towards directly helping the fuel poor, following uproar over last week's decision by British Gas to hike gas bills by a third. [Guardian]

Property market: House prices down 8.1% in largest fall for 17 years

The average price of a UK home is now £15,000 less than it was a year ago, with prices tumbling at their fastest rate since 1991 in the year to July, Nationwide said yesterday. [Guardian]

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