Straw pledges new deal for packed jails

Jack Straw has ordered a crackdown on drug abuse in jails and improved training for inmates in an attempt to ease the impact of overcrowding. Ministers disclosed that more than 16,000 offenders have already been released early to free space.

Anne Owers, the chief inspector of prisons, had warned the Justice Secretary that the prison system was at breaking-point, struggling with record numbers.

Mr Straw said rules for visits to prisons would be reviewed in an attempt to cut the supply of drugs, and more sniffer dogs would be used. On a visit to Wands-worth prison in south London, he said: "We are providing better work opportunities for prisoners and better opportunities to get them off drugs. As part of that there is a deal, a contract, so prisoners understand what they are getting from society and they have to give back. If they break the contract the deal is off."

He said his new work schemes and training would be "instrumental in helping offenders turn away from crime, and giving them back a sense of stability, discipline and responsibility".

Mr Straw confirmed that the Government intended to build up to three "Titan" prisons, each holding 2,500 offenders. Suitable sites in are being sought in the South-east, the West Midlands and the North-west. Mr Straw also said the Government was "launching a competition" to provide a new prison ship.

The Ministry of Justice also admitted that 300 new crimes had been commiitted by some of the 16,197 offenders who were let out early between the end of June, when the scheme was introduced, and the end of December. Nick Herbert, the shadow Justice Secretary, said: "Early release of offenders has put the public at risk but it has failed to deal with prison overcrowding. This policy has now created more than 300 unnecessary victims of crime. They have been let down by Labour's incompetence."

Home Office figures showed 757 people were murdered in England and Wales in 2006-07, a fall of 2 per cent on the previous 12 months. They included 68 children, a sharp rise from 52 in 2005-06. The increase will intensify fears over young people getting caught up in gang violence, but the department said the rise was caused by an increase in the number of youngsters killed by their parents.

Shootings accounted for 59 of last year's victims, including five children. It was the second-lowest total since 1998-99.