The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has announced that building work on Britain’s newest ‘smart’ prison will start in the autumn.

The move comes after the department signed a £400 million contract with construction firm Kier, which will build the jail in East Yorkshire.

The facility, set to open in 2025, will be the first of its kind to operate as zero-carbon in the future, including an all-electric design, solar panels, heat pumps, and efficient lighting systems.

The government said that the prison will create hundreds of jobs in construction – with 50 earmarked for ex-offenders - and a further 600 once it opens.

The site will be the third of six prisons to be completed as part of the government’s ‘New Prisons Programme’ and follows HMP Five Wells and HMP Fosse Way in Glen Parva, which is due to open next year.

“I am delighted work can begin on yet another modern, innovative prison that will skill-up untold numbers of offenders to live a crime-free life while making our streets safer,” said prisons minister, Stuart Andrew. “The new prison at Full Sutton will also support hundreds of jobs, in construction and afterwards, representing a major boost to Yorkshire’s economy.”

New technologies have also been rolled out for prison-leavers in recent months, with some ex-offenders facing alcohol bans and having their drinking electronically monitored.

Some organisations, including Alcohol Change UK, have expressed concerns about the move.

Last year the government launched GPS tags to track “robbers, thieves and burglars”.

It plans to spend an extra £183 million in electric monitoring by 2025 to nearly double the number of people tagged at any one time to around 25,000.

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