DONCASTER Prison is one of the 20 most overcrowded jails in England and Wales, according to penal reformers today.
The Prison Reform Trust accused ministers of being complacent about the problem, with their table showing HMP Doncaster at equal 15th in the table.
The privately-run jail at Marshgate is currently operating at 146 per cent of its prescribed capaci
ty.
PRT director Juliet Lyon said: "The prison population is mushrooming out of control, and the government is still trying hopelessly to build its way out of a crisis. Ministers have grown complacent.
"It will take a concerted effort across government to reserve prison for those who have committed serious and violent crimes and to invest in drug treatment for addicts, mental health and social care and enforced community work for petty offenders."
Prisons minister David Hanson said: "The figures published by the Ministry of Justice and reproduced in part by the PRT do not show any prison operating beyond the safe level agreed by prisons and area managers.
"We will always provide enough prison places for the most dangerous, violent and persistent offenders."
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