British authority warns that jails might run out of space as prison population has increased by more than 100 a day over the past week, as courts process cases of recent rioting and looting in London and other cities.

According to local media report, a nember of 723 rioters had been jailed. The Prison Governors Association warned that jails might run out of space for more inmates.

The Prison Governors Association said total jail numbers were about 86,000 in England and Wales, only 1,200 spaces were still available. If the number of criminal were verdicted at such a rate, jails might lack of spaces.

British prison population normally decreases or remains stable in August because there are fewer court sittings and offenders sent to jail in the season.

However, due to the disorders in London, Manchester, Birmingham and other English cities earlier this month, criminal numbers are rising sharply.

In order to tackle the problem, some measures might be taken into practice, such as putting an extra bed in a two-person cell, so that three prisoners would have to share one cell. There will also be spare capacity in secure children's homes and secure training centres which hold young offenders from the age of 10.

Two younsters were jailed for four years for using Facebook to incite riots on Tuesday, which aroused criticism that the verdict was too sharp.

According to British media, rioters' prison terms are on average 25 percent longer than usual. Seventy percent offenders sentenced by magistrates have been jailed, compared with a rate of 2 percent normally.

Xinhua