OVERCROWDING at Strangeways Prison has got so bad that bosses have resorted to paying the police to hold inmates in station cells.
In the most detailed study of the problem for more than a decade, the Prison Reform Trust today revealed the jail is 33 per cent over capacity.
Overcrowding was highlighted as one of the major factors involved in the 1990 riots which resulted in a 25-day siege and the deaths of a prison officer and a prisoner.
But while the Prison Service says the level of overcrowding is nowhere near as high today, campaigners say it is still at worrying levels with prisoners having to share cells designed for one in degrading conditions.
According to the Prison Service, the safe maximum limit for the prison is 1,256 inmates. Earlier this month, the limit was reached so Greater Manchester Police agreed to provide cells for up to 40 prisoners as an overflow facility code-named Operation Lock-Out.
Under this system, prisoners - normally those who are on remand waiting for court hearings - are housed in cells at Longsight police station. The costs involved are paid from the Prison Service to the police.
Job cuts
The Prison Reform Trust study comes after a report by the Chief Inspector of Prisons in July which revealed job cuts at Strangeways - resulting in a third of staff leaving in just six months as part of an economy and efficiency drive - had prompted safety concerns.
No one from the prison was available to comment on Operation Lock-Out or the Prison Reform Trust report, but a Prison Service spokeswoman said: "The situation at Manchester Prison in 1990 was very different to the Manchester Prison we have today.
"We acknowledge that overcrowding is a problem, but it is nowhere near the scale it was back then.
"Safety is not being put in jeopardy and prisoners are not left caged in their cells. What it does mean is that they cannot be given as much education and purposeful activity than if we had fewer prisoners."
According to the Prison Reform Trust report Strangeways was home to 1,250 prisoners in August. They were held in accommodation intended for 943. On the day of the riots in 1990 there were 1,647 inmates.
The new figures were released alongside national statistics which show the prison population nationwide is at an all-time high of over 71,500 and in the first four months of this year rose by 4,000.
The Prison Reform Trust said today that overcrowding is a problem in three quarters of jails and the figures should act as a wake-up call to the government. It urges urgent action to cut the prison population.
Varying levels of overcrowding were reported at prisons across the country, with the most serious problem in Shrewsbury Prison which is 86 per cent overcapacity.
The study consulted boards of visitors - the independent government-appointed watchdogs in charge of monitoring conditions in jail.
Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said: "This unique report must act as a wake-up call to the government to reduce prison numbers, promote community penalties and reserve prison for serious and violent offenders only."