A penal reform pressure group has launched a surprise bid to run two new prisons.
Nacro, a charity which attempts to cut crime by finding practical work for offenders, has formed a consortium to win Government contracts for jails in Merseyside and London.
It joined forces with private security firm G4S, a drugs charity and a construction company in its bid to run 600-bed Maghull and Belmarsh West prisons.
Nacro has previously been sceptical of some private sector involvement in prison management.
But the charity's chief executive, Paul Cavadino, said: "The best way of ensuring that they are being run properly is to be involved in planning this from the start.
"If you are involved in the planning of the regime, it makes it much more likely that a prison will be providing high-quality resettlement and rehabilitation.
"Prisoners would be therefore much better prepared for reform."
Belmarsh West, to be built next door to Belmarsh high-security prison in south east London, and Maghull are due to be finished by 2010.
The bid marks the first time that a voluntary group has attempted to operate a prison, a Nacro source said.
Applications to run the prisons will close in October, and the Government will announce who has won the contracts next year. Two other bids are believed to have been submitted already.
