The Ministry of Justice reported on Friday that the prison population has reached 86,654, beating last week´s record high of 85,523.
´We currently have enough prison places for those being remanded and sentenced to custody as a result of public disorder, but there was no immediate crisis,” a Prison Service spokesperson said.
´We are developing contingencies to increase usable capacity should further pressure be placed on the prison estate,´ the spokesman said.
Britain has long suffered a succession of crises of jail overcrowding, having the highest per capita prison population in western Europe.
Last year, Justice Secretary Ken Clarke issued a Green Paper on prisons and sentencing, expressing hope that he would cut the jail population by 3,000.
Initiatives by the previous Labour government to stem the incessant rise in the prison population included early release schemes.
End.
Last Updated: 23 August 2011
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