Tories in uproar as plan for prison ships resurfaces

PROPOSALS to reintroduce prison ships have sparked a furious row within the Conservative Party. Floating jails do not feature in the party's draft manifesto, but a spokesman confirmed yesterday the option is under consideration.

If endorsed it could offer David Cameron a means of fulfilling his pledge to end the government's prisoner early release scheme.

Frances Crook, the director of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said yesterday: "There is a huge row going on inside the Conservative Party. What they are concerned about is that they are democratically elected as MPs and have spent four or five years developing carefully thought-out policies on crime and justice based on extensive consultation, and then Andy Coulson (Cameron's communications chief] comes along and thinks it would be a good idea to announce they are going to have a prison ship. I was told that frontbenchers were very, very upset about the way things have been going."

Britain's last floating jail, HMP The Weare, was sold in 2005 after eight years holding prisoners off Portland, Dorset.

The ship's temporary stint as a jail was controversial, with the chief inspector of prisons denouncing it unfit for purpose because of the lack of access to fresh air and exercise.

But it is thought that a Tory government may have to resort once more to prison ships in order to halt the End of Custody Licence scheme, which was introduced in England and Wales in 2007 and allows offenders to be freed up to 18 days before their due date.