A government minister has refused to deny reports that officials are looking at sending criminals convicted in England and Wales to Estonia to serve their prison sentences. The Daily Telegraph reported that the Ministry of Justice was investigating “all viable options” to increase capacity after the Baltic state said it had offered to rent out spare capacity to other countries. Citing government sources, the Telegraph said the solution was “on the table” after men’s prisons in England and Wales almost ran out of cells last month with 83 spare spaces. Official figures published on Friday showed that the prison population had reached a record high, with 88,521 people behind bars, 171 more than the previous record set at the end of last week.

The justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, and Liisa Pakosta, her Estonian counterpart, were expected to discuss prison leasing on the sidelines of a Council of Europe event in Vilnius, Lithuania, on Thursday. Pakosta told the Telegraph: “The UK and Estonia have a history of successful international co-operation, and such a partnership would create further opportunities to benefit and learn from each other.”

The proposal to send prisoners to Estonia was initially floated by former justice secretary Alex Chalk at the Tory conference last year, though it was dismissed at the time as potentially too expensive. Although criticised by Labour as a symbol of Tory mismanagement, the idea is now being reconsidered by Labour officials, despite concerns over potential costs. Norway and Belgium have previously rented prison space from the Netherlands, where the state spends nearly £100,000 per prisoner, but Estonia is believed to spend between just £10,000 and £20,000 per prisoner. The cost of housing a prisoner in England and Wales is nearly £50,000. The cost of building a jail is £600,000 per prisoner.

Officials expect any negotiations to result in the cost possibly doubling, as the countries would be likely to set a premium, while there would also be costs for flights and posting some British prison staff abroad. Further questions over whether taxpayers would need to pay for family members to visit inmates remain unanswered.

Ms Pakosta noted that several countries have shown interest in renting Estonia’s unused prison space and emphasised the benefits of international cooperation in ensuring security and creating jobs. She highlighted the UK’s reputation for safe, secure prisons with rehabilitative opportunities as a key factor in considering the UK as a potential partner.

The proposal has been met with mixed reactions, with some expressing concerns about the cost and logistics of sending prisoners abroad, while others see it as a necessary step to alleviate the pressure on the UK’s overcrowded prison system. A government minister has refused to deny reports that officials are looking at sending criminals convicted in England and Wales to Estonia to serve their prison sentences. The number of inmates in jails in England and Wales hit a new high of 88,521 on Thursday, up 171 from 88,350 a week ago - the previous record - and a jump of 1,025 from 87,496 four weeks ago. Dame Angela Eagle, a minister in the Home Office, did not rule out sending prisoners to the Baltic state when asked on Sky News whether the Government was considering renting cells in Estonia. She said the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is likely to be “considering anything”.

It came as judges called for a reversal of the trend that has seen custodial sentences lengthened, as they said the prison system is “not working properly”. More than 5,000 prisoners are due to be released earlier than planned in coming weeks to help alleviate pressure on the prison system in across England and Wales, which has as few as 1,000 spaces left. The prison population of England and Wales has hit a record high, with the number jumping by nearly a thousand in four weeks to 88,350 on August 30.

The sharp rise in likely to have been driven by the number of jail sentences handed to people found guilty of taking part in the recent disorder across parts of the country. Some of England and Wales’ top former judges have written to the government urging it to end “sentence inflation” - a trend that has seen prison sentences lengthened significantly in recent years. Among them is former Lord Chief Justice Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, who told Sky News the trend should be reversed to restore “a proper sense of proportion” and to allow prisons to function properly.

“We have increased the prison population, and it is promised to increase by a very substantial proportion over the next few years,” he said. “We need to stand back and work out - are we using our resources properly?

“We think there is an urgent need for a review of what has happened over the last 20 years, to get everything back to a proper sense of proportion. We have been changing sentencing legislation on and off over the last 15 to 20 years without really looking at the effect as a whole. For example, the sentences for murder were significantly increased, people have been required to spend longer of the sentence in prison. All of these have a cumulative or other effect, and you need to stand back and ask yourselves, have we got the resources balanced correctly?”

He said there is “not that much evidence” that longer sentences are having a deterrent effect on offenders. “Secondly, if you have prisons that are overcrowded, they cannot be used and cannot function as intended, namely to provide places of rehabilitation,” he added. “And so we have a system that is, as a result of what has happened, not working properly.” In an effort to free up space in UK prisons, the Government has introduced an early release scheme which will see thousands of prisoners released after serving 40 per cent of their sentence. An estimated 5,500 offenders are expected to be released earlier than was planned in the coming weeks under the Government’s temporary measures to ease overcrowding. The scheme will not apply to those convicted of sex offences, terrorism, domestic abuse or some violent offences. The Government has said that those who are released will serve the rest of their sentence under strict licensing conditions. Last week, His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary Andy Cooke described the lack of prison places as a “nightmare”. “It is a nightmare,” he told The Sunday Telegraph. “There’s no easy option because there are not enough prison spaces. The Government had no choice other than to release people early, but it does put a strain on the rest of the system, because probation are understaffed and underfunded.” “The entire criminal justice system is dysfunctional, undoubtedly dysfunctional,” he added. Speaking on a trip to Berlin last week, Sir Keir Starmer said more prisons will be built once the Government has got its “hands on the planning laws”. “We’ve got to change the planning regulation so we can build the prisons we need, because they’re taking far too long, it’s far too slow, and that’s amongst the reasons we’re in the position we are,” said the Prime Minister. “And, as you’d expect from an ex-chief prosecutor, people do need to go to prison, and they need to know that the law is effective. We need to build those prisons, and we will get our hands on the planning laws in order to do so.”