A Kent prison has completed a new 247-place houseblock as the government expands England and Wales’s prison estate amid continuing pressure on capacity.

The new block at HMP Elmley, on the Isle of Sheppey, is expected to receive its first prisoners in the coming weeks. The Ministry of Justice says it forms part of a £4.7bn programme to create 14,000 additional prison places by 2031.

The new facilities include reinforced windows designed to counter threats such as drones carrying contraband. A workshop has also been built to provide prisoners with training and skills intended to help them find work after release and reduce reoffending.

Catherine McKinnell, the prisons, probation and reoffending minister, said the new houseblock would provide space for dangerous offenders while supporting rehabilitation.v‘We inherited prisons on the brink of collapse,’ she said, arguing that the government’s building programme would ensure sufficient capacity for the future.

The department said prison capacity had increased by only 500 net places in the 14 years to July 2024. It said around 3,300 additional places had been delivered since July 2024, as ministers work towards their 2031 target.

The government is also bringing forward £110m to speed up the creation of hundreds of places, including by converting existing buildings and unused areas such as offices, laundries and storage rooms into cells.

Ministers have also cited faster removal of foreign national offenders and plans to address the legacy of imprisonment for public protection (IPP) sentences as part of their response to capacity pressures. IPP sentences were abolished in 2012, but the change did not automatically release people already serving them.

HMP Elmley is a category B/C prison for adult men, providing both local custody and resettlement services.