A LABOUR government won’t have the money to build its way out of the prison capacity crisis, the probation union chief has warned.

Napo general secretary Ian Lawrence called for an “adult discussion” over the limiting the use of short-term jail sentences and a focus on investing in the prevention of crime instead.

He told the Morning Star: “Napo don’t believe it’s possible for any government to build their way out of the prison crisis … we are talking huge huge money here.

“Essentially if it costs £64,000 to incarcerate someone in a prison for a year, there must be an adult discussion about whether that’s the best use of money.”

He called on a future Labour government to commit to an independent review of the probation service within the first 100 days in power after Tory austerity measures following the return of probation to state control have “left many facing huge workloads right across the piste in terms of their capacity.”

“We want a Labour government that actually listens to what the unions are saying — the problems that probation face and the real risks to public safety, which all politicians underestimate.

“As a new government they need to step up and show some commitment.

“I want to see them say that they are going to engage with trade unions and initiate a review of the probation service within the first 100 days of taking office.

“That should be an independent review with the right people giving evidence to it and then a commitment to act on the recommendations promptly.”

And in a stark warning over how overstretched the probation service is, Mr Lawrence estimated up to half of inmates released under a controversial early release scheme have been returning to prison within days.

The End of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL) allows prisoners to be released up to 18 days before the end of their sentence to reduce an “acute and exceptional demand” on prison places.

Mr Lawrence suggested that the recalls are typically due to inmates being released without facilities necessary for them to comply with the conditions of the scheme.

He said: “I’ve no reason to rebut the suggestion from all of my members that we are seeing anything up to 50 per cent coming back to prison on a fixed-term recall.

“It’s a massive waste of time and money — you’ve got people coming out, you’ve got all the processing and for a two-week period in prison.

“We understand why there’s a need to release people from prison early but what we don't accept is a reduction in the checks and balances in supervision that our members administer to meet a political objective.

“Quite simply … when there is a crisis in prisons the government finds money, but when there’s a crisis in prevention it’s a different story.”

He added: “In order for us to be sure that people coming out of prison early do not pose a threat to public safety there needs to be checks and balances and we are not satisfied that that is the case.

“I’m not comfortable that the consideration and process for exempting certain people from early release is robust enough at the moment.”

Labour was contacted for comment.