One night in the court cells costs as much as a Ritz suite

Prisoners are being held in court cells that cost more per night than a suite at the Ritz it emerged as ministers were accused of an "absurd waste of money".

The Government faced condemnation after it was revealed that 77 prisoners had been forced to use cells in courts since the start of the year at an average cost of £1,800 a night.

Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, said that the average cost of court cells was more than the £1,600 a night which is charged for a deluxe suit at the Ritz Hotel in Piccadilly, London.

The figures came as the prison population reached breaking point. The prison service said that nearly 300 people were being held in police cells on Friday as official figures showed there were 80,456 inmates in the prison system. The figure is less than 350 below 80,800, the absolute maximum capacity of the prison system.

Prison service officials said the population behind bars had fallen by 135 since last week's record of 80,600 and insisted that court cells were used for an overnight stay only as a last resort.

But Mr Clegg said: "These figures show the voodoo economics of prison overcrowding. A standard prison cell is already extremely expensive, costing more than enough to keep an extra police officer on patrol.

"But now the overcrowding crisis is costing us so much we might as well be putting prisoners up in the Ritz. The Government's failure to manage the prison population is to blame for this absurd waste of money."

John Reid, the Home Secretary, confirmed in a Parliamentary written answer that prisoners have spent a night in court cells on 77 occasions this year at a cost of £140,000 including VAT.

The new Ministry of Justice took over responsibility for the Prison Service last week as part of the break-up of the Home Office.

A Prison Service spokeswoman said that court cells are only used "as a measure of last resort if accommodation in prison and police cells is exhausted". Court cells are not used for prisoners at risk of self-harm and are limited to a single night's stay on weekdays.

"We use cells that would otherwise be empty overnight. Disruption to court business is avoided," she said. "The cells are supervised by prison staff, working with contracted escort staff.

"The intention is that -other than in wholly exceptional circumstances- prisoners would only be held overnight before being taken to a prison in the morning."

The Chief Inspector of Prisons Anne Owers said last week that more than 7,000 inmates had to be accommodated in police cells at a cost of £23m a month since the overcrowding crisis began last October.

Lord Falconer, the Lord Chancellor, marked his first day in charge of the new justice ministry by unveiling a package of measures to ease overcrowding, including shorter jail sentences for burglars and shoplifters and more lenient treatment for offenders who breach the terms of their parole. However, he ruled out controversial measures such as an early release programme.

The Prison Services currently plans to build an extra 8,000 prison places by 2012, with more than 2,000 ready by the end of the year. But the Ministry of Justice now plans a review of the prison building programme.