7.54 The prisons estate could potentially benefit from further PFI involvement in its refurbishment, management and maintenance. New investment in the prisons sector already involves an extensive and successful programme of new-built PFI prisons, and this suggests that the management of the existing prisons estate could benefit from investment through PFI. Involving PFI in the prisons estate could bring benefits because:
• the prisons estate sector is characterised by large, depreciating assets, with the expectation of an extensive life into the future. Consequently, it could benefit from PFI's potential to assess and make repairs with the long-term life of the asset in mind because of a long-term contract structure; and
• the structure of services to the prisons estate is suitable for PFI, allowing the public sector to specify quality standards for the facilities it needs, and effectively enforce performance against those standards.