Number of prisoners at record level

The number of prisoners in England and Wales has topped 74,000 for the first time, the Prison Service said.

In the latest landmark in the prison overcrowding crisis, figures showed the population had risen 633 in four weeks - the equivalent of a medium-sized jail - to 74,012.

The so-called operational capacity of the Prison Service stands at 76,405, although the actual number of inmates who can be detained is actually much lower.

It was the fifth week in a row that the prison population had hit a new all-time high.

More people are jailed in England and Wales than in any other western European country and more people are imprisoned per capita than in Libya, Malaysia and Burma.

In April, Home Secretary David Blunkett extended measures to release more inmates from jail early in a bid to ease the overcrowding crisis.

From next week, prisoners serving between 18 months and four years will be eligible for release about 135 days early, instead of the previous 90 days.

It was the second time the so-called home detention curfew, where offenders are released with an electronic tag, had been extended in seven months.

Mr Blunkett received enough cash in the Budget earlier this year to build an extra 1,000 places, bringing the total capacity to 78,700 by 2006.

The Home Office's own predictions say that between 8,000 and 22,000 extra places will be required on top of that figure. Ministers have yet to explain how the gap between supply and demand will be filled.

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