Image copyright PA The prison population of England and Wales should be cut to 45,000, a former deputy prime minister and two former home secretaries have urged.
In a letter to the Times, Nick Clegg, Ken Clarke and Jacqui Smith said jails had become unacceptably dangerous.
They said inmate numbers had risen to more than 85,000 since Michael Howard declared in 1993 that “prison works”.
The cross-party trio pointed out that almost half of inmates are re-convicted within a year of being released.
Former Lib Dem leader Mr Clegg, Conservative Mr Clarke and Labour"s Mrs Smith said the recent violent unrest at Birmingham Prison was a “wake-up call for this country”.
Riot teams restored order to all four wings of HMP Birmingham last week after more than 12 hours of rioting described as the worst since events at Strangeways 26 years ago.
"Order, security and purpose"The trio"s letter said there had been a 31% increase in prison assaults in the past year, and one prisoner ki..
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