LONDON

The UK Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is reportedly considering sending prisoners to Estonia in a bid to address the severe overcrowding crisis in jails across England and Wales, where inmate numbers have reached a record high of 88,521.

The figures, released on Thursday, marked an increase of 171 prisoners in just one week, surpassing the previous record of 88,350.

Over the past month, the prison population has grown by 1,025, up from 87,496 in early August.

The number of inmates has been on the rise for the past three years, reversing the drop in 2021 when the population fell to a low of 77,727 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking to Sky News, Dame Angela Eagle, a minister in the Home Office, did not dismiss reports regarding the possibility of sending prisoners to the Baltic state of Estonia, noting that the MoJ is likely exploring all available options to tackle the overcrowding issue.

"The last government closed loads of prison places and didn’t replace any of them, so I think that colleagues in the MoJ will be considering anything that they can to alleviate the problem," she said.

Eagle stressed the need to ensure that individuals convicted of serious crimes have appropriate places in the prison system.

Her comments came amid growing concern about the state of the prison system, with judges warning that the trend of issuing increasingly long custodial sentences is unsustainable.