Prison overcrowding a "national disgrace"

Wednesday, 18 February 2004 12:30 AM

There are more people in prison in England and Wales than ever before, according to new statistics.

The Prison Reform Trust claims 74,543 inmates are currently housed at Her Majesty's pleasure - using up 99.3 per cent of capacity.

The charity found that in just one week in January the prison population surged by 597 - enough to reportedly fill one prison - and in the month as a whole 2,167 people were locked away.

Consequently, England and Wales had the highest imprisonment rate in the EU.

The trust said basic conditions were deteriorating as prison populations increased.

Overcrowding, poor sanitary conditions and the lack of showers or exercise facilities were highlighted as particular causes of concern.

Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust, a think-tank, said: "Prisons on the brink of safe overcrowded capacity should set alarm bells ringing for a government preoccupied with tough talk and bridging the justice gap.

"To avoid a crisis, it must act now to divert petty offenders into effective community penalties, addicts into rehabilitation and the mentally ill into the health system as well as curbing excessive sentence lengths and any needless use of custodial remand."

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