Billion pound contract at under-fire Forest Bank prison extended by Ministry of Justice

The Ministry of Justice has confirmed it has extended Sodexo's contract to run under-fire Forest Bank prison in Salford.

It has been confirmed, on the eve of the expiry of the old contract, the France-based facilities giant has been granted an extension to give the government more time to decide who should run the jail. Insiders at the prison expected a decision last summer, as the billion pound contract to build and run the jail runs out tomorrow (January 19).

Staff believed Sodexo would be axed following an M.E.N. investigation which uncovered allegations of widespread drug use and inmates who 'run the wings'. It prompted an MP and Salford's mayor to write to the government to demand an 'urgent' review.

Revelations included a call from Salford and Eccles MP Rebecca Long-Bailey for the Ministry of Justice to cancel the contract. In the summer the M.E.N. reported that two sources at the jail had said that the Ministry of Justice had decided to award the new contract to another company, but that Sodexo was appealing the decision.

The Manchester Evening News' investigation in 2023, based on allegations from a whistleblower, an ex-prisoner and his father, and the family of a grandfather who died in his cell, exposed what Salford and Eccles MP Rebecca Long-Bailey branded a 'culture of lawlessness' at the jail.

The M.E.N. revealed that:

Sodexo's contract to run the prison ends on January 19, 2025. Back in 1998, it was awarded a deal worth £1,006,771,964 to design, build and run the prison built on the site of the former Agecroft power station under a private finance initiative to house a maximum 1,064 inmates. The deal was to last 25 years, before being extended.

Sodexo, founded and based in France, runs six prisons in