Jail overcrowding 'ongoing problem'

Inmates are forced to "double up" in single cells due to overcrowding

Overcrowding is an "on-going problem" at three South prisons, a Prison Reform Trust report has revealed.

The new study shows that 54.7% of prisoners at Winchester Prison in Hampshire are sharing cells which were designed for one person.

There have been three suicides in the last twelve months at the jail.

The sharing rate at Camphill on the Isle of Wight stood at 52%. While Reading jail in Berkshire was even higher with 67.2 % of inmates "doubling-up" in cells.

The Prison Service target is 18%. Shrewsbury was the most overcrowded jail in England and Wales with a 91.1% of prisoners sharing.

Struggling to cope

The Prison Reform Trust study is based on the Prison Service's own data for England and Wales published last month.

The only way to improve these jails is immediately to reduce their populations. Report author Enver Solomon

The trust claims that overcrowded jails are leading to poor performances in other areas as the system struggles to cope.

Enver Solomon, author of the report, said: "This report reveals a Prison Service whose performance is being severely hampered by a record prison population."

The number of prison inmates testing positive for drugs has risen for the first time in five years to 11.7% last year, against a target of 10%.

Drug use at Dorchester Prison in Dorset is almost double the national average at 19.7%.

Leeds Prison recorded the most positive drug tests (28.3%), followed by Lancaster (26.4%) and Kirkham in Preston (25.8%).

Suicide record

However, the study found there was no record of drug abuse at Albany on the Isle of Wight.

The Prisons' watchdog also discovered suicide rates are at an all-time high with 105 jail inmates taking their own lives in the year 2002-2003.

The jail with the highest number of suicides was Durham with six deaths.

Ten jails in England and Wales recorded no incidents of assault over the 12-month period.

Enver Solomon added: "Far too many prisons are overcrowded, provide inadequate levels of purposeful activity and experience high levels of recorded drug use.

"The only way to improve these jails is immediately to reduce their populations."