The Tories are spending £5.5million of taxpayers’ cash on a contest for firms to run new private prisons.
The bulk of the cost is for staff and outside advice on how to “develop and run” the tendering process.
Justice Minister Robert Buckland admitted that £1.8million of the total had already been spent.
The public sector cannot bid even though experts say private sector jails have a poor track record in Britain.
Slamming the “complete waste of money”, Shadow Justice Secretary Richard Burgon said plans for “yet more private prisons” should be scrapped.
“Labour will put an end to them and to the wheelbarrows of cash being handed over to failing private sector companies,” he said.
Around one in five of Britain’s 82,000 prison inmates are in private jails.
