Labour unveils plans to build three new jails

Criminals who reoffend will serve just one month behind bars as Labour scrambles to free up space in Britain's overcrowded jails.

Shabana Mahmood said prisons are currently operating at 99 per cent capacity and the country risks a 'total breakdown of the justice system' if the issue is not addressed.

Speaking at a Downing Street press conference, the Justice Secretary said three new prisons will be built, starting this year, as part of a 'record prison expansion'.

But she said it was not possible to 'build our way out of the crisis' and unveiled new rules that will see offenders serving sentences of between one and four years only returned to prison for a fixed 28-day period.

A standard recall currently results in offenders being taken back to prison for the remainder of their sentence, but this can be for shorter fixed-terms in some circumstances.