Ministers are aiming to cut the prison population by 3,000 over four years Birmingham and Featherstone Prisons are to be run by G4S and Doncaster Prison by Serco, Justice Secretary Ken Clarke has told MPs.
Mr Clarke said that Her Majesty’s Prison Service had been selected to run Buckley Hall Prison after the competition between public and private bidders that was launched in 2009.
Birmingham is the first existing public sector prison to be privatised.
It holds 1400 inmates and has 752 staff.
BBC Home Affairs correspondent Danny Shaw says prison staff were being told the result of the tender at noon on Thursday.
He said the Prison Officer’s Association has a mandate from its members to take industrial action if any prisons are contracted out to the private sector.
Mr Clarke also said Wellingborough Prison had been withdrawn from the competition.
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