CAMPAIGNERS urged George Osborne today to make bigger cuts than planned — to the prison population.

The Tory Chancellor has ordered ministers of unprotected departments to plan 40 per cent cuts as part of his spending review.

But the Howard League for Penal Reform submitted its own progressive plan this morning to help the Department for Justice meet Mr Osborne’s target.

The charity has submitted an official response to the spending review with ideas about how to cut the prison population by up to 50 per cent.

League chief executive Frances Crook challenged the government to take a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to sort out the bloated criminal justice system.”

The number of men, women and children in prisons in England and Wales has almost doubled in the last 25 years — from fewer than 45,000 in 1990 to more than 86,000.

The league believes that cutting prisoner numbers in half would save Britain billions while reducing crime.

Its ideas include a ban on prison sentences of under 12 months, which are handed down to 57,000 people every year.

The Ministry of Justice’s own research has shown that suspended sentences and community sentences are not only cheaper but also result in less reoffending.

The experts also want to see the use of remand limited.

Some 8,000 people who have not been found guilty of an offence are held in prison every day, but 70 per cent do not go on to receive a custodial sentence.

And they also want a reversal of “sentence inflation,” with prisoners serving 24 per cent longer than 10 years ago for the same crimes.

“For far too long the issues of alcohol abuse, drug abuse and mental health issues have been ignored. Until these issues are tackled head on we will continue to operate in a revolving door system,” said Prison Officers Association general secretary Steve Gillan.

“Society will only see the prison population falling and reoffending falling when they address societies problems. Continuing to cut public services is not the answer and never has been.”

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