The Prisons' Minister has launched a consultation on the development of up to three so-called Titan prisons.

The plans were announced last year as part of the recommendation in Lord Carter's review of prisons.

The new 'supersize' jails will house 2,500 prisoners. The current building programme aims to bring overall capacity of the prison estate to over 96,000 by 2014.

David Hanson said: "Our priority is to further reduce crime and to protect the public, and we want to make sure that we get this right.

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"We want Titan prisons to bring the resources we have to reduce reoffending together in one place. Our aim is to provide better value for money for the taxpayer and better opportunities to rehabilitate offenders so that they don't offend again."

The government's strategy maintains that the most serious offenders should be in prison.

Last December £1.2 billion was announced to cover the expenditure of additional prison places. The consultation on Titan prisons will last for three months. The results will be published before the end of the year.

It is believed that the sites for the prisons will be London, the West Midlands and the North-West.

(DS/JM)