Related reading:

Prison Privatisation: A Failure of the British Penal System

During the early 1990s, the British government began to rely on the private sector to provide extra prison places to deal with overcrowding and help spread the costs of interning offenders. Currently in England and Wales, there are 14 prisons run by private companies such as G4S Justice Services, Serco Custodial Services and Sodexo Justice Services.

A 2019 analysis of official UK prison data found that private prisons tend to generally be more dangerous than public prisons.

For the past 17 years, privately-run prisons have been more likely to have overcrowded conditions than public sector prisons.

The three companies that run the UK’s private prisons have faced accusations of violating prisoners’ human rights.

https://www.standrewslawreview.com/post/prison-privatisation-a-failure-of-the-british-penal-system

After a decade of austerity, urgent changes are needed to improve prison services

The UK government’s austerity measures, implemented in English prisons by the 2012 Benchmarking Programme, have led to a sharp reduction in the prison workforce and a cut in budgets. This has left English prisons unable to provide safe environments for rising prison populations.

https://www.bristol.ac.uk/policybristol/policy-briefings/prison-funding-austerity/