Prime minister will bring upbeat message to adversarial Commons after a summer of policy announcements and improved poll ratings Alex Norris , the justice secretary, has insisted prisons will “still function properly” amid concerns over government plans to turn laundries into cells in a bid to tackle overcrowding. As Ben Quinn reports, the Ministry of Justice announced overnight that it will spend £110m creating new cells in prisons using existing spaces like unused offices, laundry rooms and other areas. Of course we’re going to make sure that the prisons can still function properly. This is a creative look, as I say, around our estate and being able to use some space that we can re-prioritise. Those wouldn’t necessarily be the numbers I’d use, but it is possible that places come out of t