Latchmere House prison will close in September, the Justice Secretary has announced.
The resettlement jail, in Ham, is due to shut down along with Brockhill Prison, in the West Midlands, to save the Ministry of Justice £4.9m this year and an ongoing annual saving of £11.4m.
Staff at the two prisons, which have a total capacity for 377 inmates, were expected to be moved elsewhere to avoid redundancy.
The Ministry of Justice, which faces a 23 per cent budget cut, will also put nine more prisons out to competition as part of its mass privatisation programme.
Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke said: “The public have a right to expect continuing improvement in the quality and efficiency of public services, without compromising public safety. The competition strategy and adjustments to the prison estate will help ensure that this is the case.”
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