John Silverman: Calls for mandatory life sentence to be maximum but not only sentence available to courts

Prison service statistics show that by the end of 1998, there were 4,011 "lifers" in jails in England and Wales.

The Prison Reform Trust says this 40% rise on the average of the previous decade is far too high.

Most are serving mandatory life sentences for murder and the trust is calling for these to be abolished in favour of giving judges discretionary power, as is the case elsewhere in Europe.

The trust says that the UK is following the experience of the US, with growing numbers of "pensioner" prisoners.

Each year, between 80 and 90 inmates are released from life sentences, but 300 more enter the system.

Flexible system

Prison Reform Trust director Stephen Shaw said: "The number of people serving life has now reached an unprecedented high.

"It is time we followed the example of other European countries and abolished the mandatory life sentence for murder, reserving it as the maximum sentence available to the court."

George Howarth defends mandatory life sentences

But Home Office Minister George Howarth rejected the call.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the tariff system - under which all those sentenced to life are told how long they can actually expect to serve - allowed the system to deal fairly with different criminals.

"The mandatory life system has flexibility built in," said Mr Howarth. "We can deal with less serious offences, for example, so-called mercy killings, through to the most serious offences of terrorists."

He said the actual tariff can reflect the seriousness of the offence so for terrorists life can mean life.

Budget cuts

The rise in lifer numbers is likely to be exacerbated by the 1997 introduction of life sentences for people convicted of a second serious violent or sexual offence - although these sentences are discretionary and not mandatory.

Home Affairs Correspondent Jon Silverman: Disturbing similarities to US

Further pressure is placed upon the system by the fact that the average lifer in England and Wales stays in jail for 14.3 years, compared with 11.2 years in 1987.

The trust's report warns that although prisoners are spending longer in jail, previously successful schemes preparing them for release have suffered from budget cuts and staff shortages.