Lartin

LONG Lartin high-security prison is at bursting point, new Government figures have revealed.

Figures show that on Tuesday night the Evesham jail had 441 inmates.

The prison's official capacity is 441 - leaving no available room.

The prison population in England and Wales stands at a record 71,360 - leaving just 293 spare places nationally.

The figures have prompted a fresh debate about whether judges and magistrates are failing to explore all the alternatives to a custodial sentence.

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Simon Hughes said the record number of prisoners was a "sign of failure, not success".

Home Office Minister Hilary Benn said sentences were matters for the courts.

"Sentencers should look carefully at the choice of custody for those offenders for whom prison may not be the most effective form of sentence."

The Prime Minister's wife, Cherie Blair, stepped into the debate by declaring that many inmates should not be inside at all.

In a speech given in London, she described how she has toured some of the country's most infamous jails and interviewed prisoners including drug dealers, inmates with mental health problems and young offenders.

She told her audience at the inaugural Longford Lecture that the sheer scale of the jail population was "crippling" the prison system in England and Wales.