CAMPAIGNERS called for government action today to reform the prison and sentencing system in England and Wales as jail numbers soar.

The prison population has jumped to its highest number in a year and is close to record levels, Ministry of Justice figures show.

A total of 88,238 people were in prison as of August 11, up 231 on the previous week and a rise of more than 1,200 in the past two months, according to data published yesterday.

Prison Officers’ Association national chair Mark Fairhurst said: “The crisis in our prisons is a result of decades of underfunding and government mismanagement.

“Staff on the front line now have to bear the brunt of a service that has been used as a political football.

“We must heed the recommendations within the sentence review and reduce the prison population.”

The rise in the prison population comes despite thousands of inmates being released early in recent months under a government scheme to tackle overcrowding.

Howard League for Penal Reform’s Andrew Neilson said: ”More than half the prisons in England and Wales are overcrowded, and the situation is unsustainable.

“If someone is sent to prison, we should do all that we can to help them turn their life around and move on from crime.”

But the Howard League argued that overcrowding makes it more difficult to engage prisoners in activities that help rehabilitation, which, for many, means being locked in an overcrowded cell for 23 hours a day.

“We must send fewer people to prison, curb the use of recall after release, and prioritise delivering an effective and responsive probation service that works to cut crime in the community,” Mr Neilson said.

The Prison Reform Trust’s chief executive Pia Sinha said last week’s report on prison capacity by Dame Anne Owers “laid bare the systemic failures that have brought us to this point.

“Despite a string of emergency measures to free up space, the government is quickly running out of road.

“We urgently need a sustained long-term focus, backed by investment and the political will to rebuild prison and probation services so they can operate safely and effectively.

“Only by reversing the recent growth in sentence lengths and investing in rehabilitation and probation can we create a prison system that is safe, effective, and sustainable.”