Community Action on Prison Expansion Campaign is a network of grassroots groups fighting prison expansion in England, Wales and Scotland.

We reject the myths that prisons, surveillance and policing can solve social and economic problems. We seek alternatives that keep our communities safe and achieve real social justice.

CAPE was formed in 2014 to oppose the construction of Europe’s second largest prison, HMP Berwyn in North Wales. You can read a longer history of CAPE here. We foresaw the Government’s plans to construct more prisons and in 2016, the Prison Estates Transformation Programme was announced – a £1.3billion construction programme to create 10,000 new prison places.

We have been resisting the plans and supporting local groups to start and fight in their own communities.

We aim to support each other with a diversity of tactics in resisting the Ministry of Justice’s plans, while building a broader movement for prison abolition in England, Wales and Scotland.