3.1 Since 1992, the Prison Service has created conditions in which the public sector can compete directly with the private sector for the management of prisons. Competition involving bids from the public sector for the management of prisons first occurred with Buckley Hall and Manchester in 1992/94. Buckley Hall was a public-sector-built prison and Manchester had just undergone a major refurbishment. In 1994, Buckley Hall opened under the management of Group 4 and Manchester, which had been won by the in-house team, was set to operate under a SLA for five years.24 Three other prisons were contracted out to the private sector during this period: Wolds, Doncaster, and Blakenhurst.
3.2 In 1999 the Prison Service held open competitions for Doncaster and Buckley Hall when their existing five year contracts came up for renewal. Since then, Wolds, Manchester and Blakenhurst have also been subject to re-competition following the expiry of their contracts and SLA. In all cases, the public sector put forward an in-house bid. This form of open competition is known as market testing. In 2000, the market testing of public prisons was extended to include those prisons which were identified as under-performing. In July 2000, Brixton was the first failing public prison to undergo a market test.
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24 The SLA was renegotiated twice, in 1995 and 1996.