A GROUP working with prisoners has warned that depriving inmates of contact with their families could help to create the next generation of criminals.

Christine Blakey, from the North-East Prisoner After Care Service, said: "Some people describe a parent going into prison as like a death.

"Trauma like that for young members of the family can make them become very vulnerable, and they could end up going into crime if they feel they're going to be labelled as the next generation of criminals."

A Prisons Reform Trust report published today shows that prisoners are increasingly being placed farther away from their homes because of prison overcrowding, despite Home Office claims that regular contact with a prisoner's family can reduce re-offending.

Deerbolt Young Offenders' Institute, in Barnard Castle, County Durham, was involved in research for the report.

More than three-quarters of young inmates at Deerbolt come from more than 50 miles away from the institution. Parenting courses and a Fathers Inside discussion group have now been set up at the institute.

Chris Holroyd, the head of learning and skills at Deerbolt, said the courses were very popular. He said visits between inmates and families made life easier in the centre as well as in the family home.

An additional problem at Deerbolt is the lack of a visitors' centre that could offer support to inmates and their families.

In a foreword to the report, the Prime Minister's wife, Cherie Booth, says she believes serious offenders should be given custodial sentences.

However, she said attention should be paid to alternatives to prison in other situations.

She wrote: "These alternatives to custody are proving that there can be far better ways of preventing re-offending, while at the same time minimising the most harmful effects on vulnerable young parents and their children."