WINCHESTER Prison is one of the 20 most overcrowded jails in England and Wales, according to official figures released this week.

The Romsey Road prison currently has 554 prisoners - 146 per cent over capacity.

However, Matthew Scott, a spokesman for Winchester Prison, disputed the findings.

He said: "We have not got a proportion (of prisoners) over what is our safe limit.

"The Prison Reform Trust report refers to what they call normal allocation', which is on a one cell, one person basis.

"However, the Prison Service works on an operational capacity which is the safe number of persons that the prison can hold with the facilities and staff we have got.

"That is decided by our headquarters and the prison.

"The current operational number is 552, and we don't exceed that.

"Winchester is a safe prison and we are not putting the general public at risk with the number of prisoners we hold."

Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said: "It will take a concerted effort across government to reserve prison for those who have committed serious and violent crimes, and to invest in drug treatment for addicts, mental health and social care, and enforced community work for petty offenders."

Winchester MP Mark Oaten, said: "Across the country this Government has presided over an explosion of prison numbers and the time to take a long hard look at reform is long overdue.

"The Governor of Winchester Prison and his staff are doing a good job and the best they can, but they shouldn't have to work under these conditions.

"I don't know how many more stark statistics like these the Government needs before something constructive is done."