HUNDREDS of prison officers will be ferried around England and Wales this Christmas, trying to plug the gaps left by severe staff shortages at major expense to the taxpayer.

Campaign group the Howard League for Penal Reform released facts from an official dossier yesterday detailing the desperate manoeuvrings to prop up overstretched facilities.

It echoes previous warnings from the Prison Officers Association (POA) that funding cuts and plummeting morale in the service have seen staff leave in their droves and created a dire shortage.

Bosses have increasingly relied on redeploying dwindling staff on so-called “detached duty” to make up the shortfall.

Official documents for November and December showed that 239 prison officers were sent to cover shortages elsewhere at a cost of up to £500 each a week, according to campaigners.

Howard League chief executive Frances Crook said public cash was being “squandered on shoring up a failing system.

“Politicians must accept responsibility for the chaos their policies are inflicting on the prison service, on staff and on the public.”

The Howard League’s warnings mirror those previously reported in the Morning Star.

The POA says that thousands of prison officers have been let go through voluntary redundancy and have not been replaced.

Staffing numbers stand at roughly the same level as in 1993, when there were 43,000 prisoners in the system.

But today they are tasked with managing a prison population that has risen to 85,755 in England and Wales.

Deaths, violence between prisoners and assaults on staff have all risen sharply in the past year.

POA general secretary Steve Gillan said: “Relying on detached duty is no way to run a service.”

But Mr Gillan said that Justice Secretary Chris Grayling’s plan to hire 1,700 new officers by next April was just the “tip of the iceberg” because low-paid staff were leaving as quickly as they were being hired.

“He needs to open his eyes,” said Mr Gillan.