Prisons 'could be full within two weeks'

Ministers are holding emergency meetings as the jail population threatens to rise out of control.

The number in custody in England and Wales rose to a record 80,846 after the bank holiday weekend. That total includes nearly 450 in police or court cells.

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Although the number is understood to have fallen slightly yesterday, prison chiefs fear it is a temporary respite and that jails could be full within two weeks.

Lord Falconer, the Secretary of State for Justice, is monitoring the situation daily. Although fears that prisons could run out of space this week have proved unfounded, he is preparing an announcement next week on easing pressure.

The crisis is biting across the country, although it is most acute in London and the South-east. Many newly convicted offenders are being bussed hundreds of miles from home in the search for spare spaces.

A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Justice said: "We have to look at all the options - people aren't sure what's going to happen."

The prison population, now the highest in western Europe, stood at about 61,000 in mid-1997. The Government plans to have an extra 8,000 places by 2012 to cope with a continued rise in offenders.