Ministers 'considering anything' to tackle prison crisis as plan floated to send inmates to Estonia

It comes as a former chief inspector of prisons said he has felt concerned for his "personal security" in prisons for the first time recently, as staff struggle to "keep control."

Nick Hardwick told BBC Today: "I’ve been in a lot of prisons, what I’ve noticed in some I’ve visited recently is for the first time I’ve felt concerned for my own personal security – they’re dangerous and frightening places, and staff are struggling to keep control."

A total of 88,521 people were in prison as of September 6, up 171 from 88,350 a week ago – the previous record – and a jump of 1,025 from 87,496 four weeks ago.

The sharp rise is likely to have been driven by the number of people remanded in custody or given jail sentences following the recent disorder across parts of the country.

Meanwhile, Estonia’s Justice Minister Liisa Pakosta said her country is considering whether to house foreign prisoners in one of its jails.

Pakosta told the BBC there had been no "political decision" on what to do with Tartu prison, which was almost empty because of the low level of crime in the country.

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A No10 spokeswoman said: “The Lord Chancellor has been clear that we have to bring in reforms to tackle the prison capacity crisis.

“That’s why, alongside our commitment to build more prisons, we will be publishing a 10-year strategy in the autumn to set out how we will ensure that we always have the places we need to keep dangerous offenders behind bars.

“On those reports specifically, I would point out that this was the policy of the former government and that this Government has made no such plans or announcements with regard to Estonia.”

She declined to comment on any private conversations between the Justice Secretary and her Estonian counterpart at a recent Council of Europe meeting they both attended

Estonia's government estimates it could earn as much as €30million (£25million) a year from renting out spare prison capacity, as the country seeks to boost its public finances.

When asked if hosting foreign prisoners could damage Estonia’s international reputation, Pakosta said: “Of course, it is not the best topic to promote Estonia.

“But I would assure you that coming as a tourist to Estonia, coming to a country with such a low criminality rate, is a very good option. It’s so safe we even have so many empty prison places. Half of the prison places are empty in Estonia. So everybody is welcome to come here.”