Oakwood Prison second-most overcrowded in country
A prison near Wolverhampton is the second-most overcrowded in the country, according to new figures.
Nearly 1,000 prisoners - half the population - at Oakwood Prison are living in cells designed to house fewer people.
Campaign group the Howard League for Penal Reform said prisoners were being kept "cooped up like battery hens in overcrowded cells".
Only Wandsworth Prison in London suffers more with overcrowding than Oakwood, the largest jail in the UK, according to the figures.
It is also a big problem at HMP Birmingham, of which G4S was stripped of control last year.
A total of 916 prisoners were in cells holding too many people on average in the 12 months to March at the Featherstone prison.
The jail is home to 2,080 inmates, though its ideal population is 1,600. Oakwood is run by G4S but the company said decisions on where prisoners are placed are made by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).
The MoJ said overcrowding in prisons was going down but the number of inmates at Oakwood remains well above its ideal population.
G4S said its cells were compliant with MoJ standards and pointed to an inspection from Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons last year which described living conditions as "very good, in some cases excellent".
At Winson Green jail in Birmingham, which has 925 inmates, 484 were in overcrowded cells on average.
'An intolerable situation'
Frances Crook, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “Keeping thousands of men cooped up like battery hens in overcrowded cells is never going to help them to lead crime-free lives on release.
“This is an intolerable situation and, while the numbers have come down slightly in recent years, they remain frighteningly high. The figures reveal a clear relationship with overcrowding and violence in prisons.
“This is a challenge for the new Secretary of State for Justice, who now has a chance to build a positive legacy. Bold action to reduce the number of people behind bars would not only ease pressure on the prisons; it would save lives, protect staff and prevent crime.”
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: "All of our prisons are within their operational capacity which means they are safe for offenders.
“We are building new prisons in Wellingborough and Glen Parva and have recently opened a new houseblock at HMP Stocken to help reduce crowding as part of our modernisation of the prison estate.”
