Tories planning new prison places

Conservative leader David Cameron says his party would build 5,000 more prison places in England and Wales - taking capacity in jails to more than 100,000.

Under the plans, older inner-city jails would be sold off to pay for more new prisons on cheaper land elsewhere.

Mr Cameron also wants new "min-max" sentences - with no chance of parole until the minimum term has been served.

Justice Secretary Jack Straw accused him of copying Labour plans, saying the rest of the scheme was "uncosted".

The 5,000 extra spaces would be on top of the 15,000 new prison spaces being created by the government over the next five years.

Inside Look

This new policy could very well be England's solution to their problem of overcrowded prisons.

Grade this.

UK prisons now 'over-capacity'

Prison officers accuse ministers of "total mismanagement"The prison population in England and Wales has exceeded its highest normal level for the first time. The Ministry of Justice said that as of Friday morning there were 82,068 inmates in jails - 96 over the Prison Service's "operational capacity". Justice Secretary Jack Straw has asked magistrates to jail fewer people while officials attempt to manage the crisis.

Some 358 inmates are in police or court cells to ease pressure on a system with current capacity of 81,972. Ministry of Justice figures reveal that the population breached that capacity on Thursday evening. The breach comes despite a year of efforts to reduce pressures by releasing more prisoners and building more cell. The figures mean that for the first time the Prison Service has almost 100 more inmates in jail than the numbers governors want to hold to ensure a controlled and secure regime.

Full Story

The U.K. is now officially over capacity in their prisons. Maybe we can house some inmates to ease our debt. Oh wait we are more over capacity than they are.