LONDON, May 14 (UPI) -- Overcrowding in British prisons has led officials to house inmates in court cells that cost more per night than one of London's fanciest hotels, a politician said.
"The overcrowding crisis is costing us so much we might as well be putting prisoners up in The Ritz. The government's failure to manage the prison population is to blame for this absurd waste of money," said Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, The Independent reported.
Rooms at The Ritz cost about $3,100 per night while keeping an inmate overnight in a court cell costs about $3,500 per night, the newspaper reported.
A spokeswoman for the prison system says the court cells are used only as a last resort, the Independent reported.
The government has a plan to build 8,000 new cells by 2012.
