THE Government has defended the region's prisons after criminals were allegedly detained at a North-East court until 10.30pm on Friday because of a lack of cells.

Court sources have revealed that one defendant eventually had to be taken to a police station nearly 50 miles away because the nearest prison was full.

Figures released by the Ministry of Justice last week showed that there are fewer spaces at jails in England and Wales than ever before - and fewer than 100 left in the North-East.

The Prison Service said on Friday that the system was able to cope - but on the same day The Northern Echo has learned that criminals sentenced at Teesside Crown Court were kept in temporary lock-up until hours after official closing time because there was nowhere for them to go.

The last defendant ended up spending two days at a police station in Byker, Newcastle, because there was no room left at Holme House, Stockton.

A court source, who did not want to be named, said: "The situation has now reached crisis point. The figures that were released last week about there being adequate space cannot be true based on what we have been experiencing.

"The situation must be serious if prisoners have to be taken as far as Byker to be given a bed for the night."

Figures released by the Ministry of Justice on Friday last week showed that 81,135 criminals are being held in prisons and police cells in England and Wales, with room for only 81,915.

Prisons in the North-East now house 4,907 inmates - with room for a maximum operational capacity of 4,992.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: "Pressure on the prison population remains at a high level.

"In order to manage that pressure, the National Offender Management Service (Noms) is using Operation Safeguard which is a formal agreement between Noms and the Association of Chief Police Officers, to hold prisoners in police cells instead of prison custody at times of very high population pressures.

"Police cells are used to hold people remanded or sentenced to custody following a court hearing for whom a place cannot be found in a prison straight away."