The Prison Service reduced the number of available prisoner places and removed all the Young Offenders from Ashfield after May 2002. The YJB removed 91 juveniles in August 2002 and is now planning to withdraw all remaining sentenced juveniles. This will reduce the unitary payment to the contractor. The Prison Service told us that Premier are also required to meet the cost of the public sector team and the final amount of the deduction from the unitary payment had not been finalised. The Prison Service estimates that it will recover a further £266,000 in respect of Ashfield's performance in years 2 and 3 of operation.33
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33 At the end of the first year of operation, the Prison Service fined the contractor £50,047 as a result of penalty points.