New jail ships to ease overcrowding

Three ships may be used to ease prison overcrowding following an outbreak of rioting at English jails during the past week.

Officials from the Prison Service have made inquiries about hiring the vessels as part of a package of emergency measures.

It emerged today that trouble has broken out in the past week at three jails, Lindholme, near Doncaster, Guys Marsh in Dorset and at Ranby, in Nottinghamshire. None of the disturbances has been publicised for fear of triggering more riots.

Prison officials have been forced to consider prison ships, which would each hold 500 low-risk prisoners, because of the record number currently housed in 137 prisons in England and Wales.

Vacant Ministry of Defence sites are also being considered after internal service projections suggested the current prison population of 70,926 could hit 72,000 by the beginning of June. It has already risen by 5,000 this year, including an increase of 511 last week.

Martin Narey, director general of the Prison Service, said the system is in crisis. He said: "The growth in population is very disturbing and I am in discussions with the Home Secretary-about how we cope. I have received significant investment to provide additional capacity and we are doing our best to hang on until it arrives."

The most recent prison riot took place at Ranby, where 48 inmates took over a wing for more than six hours, setting fire to furniture and causing flood damage. It ended at

4.30am yesterday after three teams of prison officers in full riot gear along with police and fire brigade had been called in.

At Lindholme, on Monday, 25 prisoners refused to return to their cells and barricaded themselves in, starting small fires and damaging fixtures and fittings. The stand-off, classed by the prison service as "indiscipline", ended eight hours later when they surrendered. Last week at Guys Marsh, 30 inmates refused to go back to their cells. They barricaded themselves in and damaged fixtures and fittings. One prison officer needed hospital treatment for bruising.

There were no serious injuries in any of the disturbances, all at Class C prisons, but officials fear they are a sign of more unrest to come, as the jail population continues to grow at an unprecedented rate.

The Prison Service already uses the Weare, at Portland in Dorset, which in 1997 became Britain's first prison ship for 200 years. A spokeswoman said: "We are considering a range of options and we cannot rule anything in or out."