Prison crisis 'undermining targets'

Efforts to catch more dangerous criminals are being undermined by the overcrowding crisis in Britain's prisons, it was claimed.

Tough new police targets for increasing the number of serious offenders arrested have reportedly been vetoed by Justice Secretary Jack Straw because they risk overwhelming jails.

His opposition is said to have opened a Cabinet rift with Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, who proposed the move as part of Labour's "zero tolerance" drive against crime.

The dispute centres on targets to be set by the Home Office in its Public Service Agreement (PSA), a list of goals each department commits to achieving in return for Treasury funding.

Police have been criticised for concentrating on petty criminals in order to reach their aims, and, according to the Sunday Telegraph, Ms Smith suggested setting targets relating specifically to serious offences such as murder, rape, and knife and gun crime.

However, Mr Straw apparently objected after officials calculated the move would create the need for an extra 500 prison places over the next three years, costing £200 million.

The jail population currently stands at more than 81,000, with some 300 prisoners being kept in police cells due to lack of space. It is projected to rise further in the future, while the Government has pledged to build more prisons.

Shadow home secretary David Davis insisted the public was paying the price for the Government's failure to plan ahead. "When the Home Office was split we warned there was a great risk that we would end up with a Ministry responsible for locking offenders up being undermined by a Ministry dedicated to letting them out," he said.

"This is a direct result of Labour's failure to plan adequate prison capacity and Gordon Brown's freezing of the Home Office budget when he was Chancellor."

A Home Office spokesman refused to comment on the reports of a rift, saying only: "PSA targets are agreed across Government. The setting of new targets offers the opportunity of more flexibility for local areas whilst insuring a focus on more serious offences."