THERE are only 83 spaces left in men's prisons in England and Wales at the moment, with capacity at 99.9 per cent, according to reports.

On Tuesday morning (August 28) the prison population stood at 88,945 which was an increase of 700 from the previous week, Good Morning Britain reported.

The system, already in the middle of an overcrowding crisis, is normally under greater pressure after a bank holiday weekend, which eases once courts reopen.

On Friday (August 23), magistrates were told to delay jailing criminals as the number of people in prison hit a new weekly high.

This comes amid plans which had already been set in motion to free up hundreds of spaces in prisons.

Earlier this month a Ministry of Justice (MoJ) spokesperson said that more than 500 places will be made available in the coming weeks.

They added: “The new Government inherited a justice system in crisis and has been forced into taking difficult but necessary action to ensure we can keep locking up dangerous criminals and protect the public.

“Staff across the whole criminal justice system are working incredibly hard and the Government will continue to support them before the changes come into effect on September 10.”

Plans are in place to release some inmates early to relieve overcrowding, and emergency measures have already been brought into force in the north of England to allow prisoners to be held in police cells until a prison space becomes available.

Recommended reading:

Last month, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced plans to cut the proportion of the sentence inmates must serve behind bars from 50 per cent to 40 per cent.

The MoJ added that violence and self-harm in prisons had risen to “unacceptable” levels as overcrowding pushed jails to the “point of collapse”.

The temporary move – which does not apply to those convicted of sex offences, terrorism, domestic abuse or some violent offences – is expected to result in 5,500 offenders being released in September and October.