Plan for 20,000 more prison places in England and Wales won’t be complete until 2030

The 4bn project was due to be finished by mid 2020s but delays mean it will not be able to head off current capacity crisis

Plans for 20,000 additional prison places by the mid 2020s are not expected to be completed until 2030 due to planning delays.

The 4bn programme has been hit by further problems this summer, a Whitehall source said, which means the new cells will not be available to head off the current capacity crisis.