Sex offender increase at Moorland Prison 'outrageous': Mayor

More than 300 sex offenders have been sent to an expanded South Yorkshire jail in a move described by a town mayor as "outrageous".

It means sex offenders now make up about a third of the population of Moorland Prison near Doncaster.

The town's elected mayor Peter Davies questioned where inmates would go on their release from the category C jail.

Sources told the BBC that all 325 new inmates were sex offenders. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) denied this.

The MoJ refused to break down how many of the transferred prisoners had been convicted of sexual offences but said they had committed a "variety of crimes".

Bed capacity has been expanded at the jail so that it can accommodate about 1,000 inmates and the MOJ confirmed that "substantially more bed spaces" were now available.

Prisons have to cope... and have to house them somewhere”

It said: "Offenders are held in closed conditions unless a stringent risk assessment, or the Parole Board, determine otherwise."

It said the majority of offenders moved to HMP Moorland were originally from the Yorkshire and Humber region.

Category C prisons are used to hold offenders who cannot be trusted in an open environment but who are not thought to be at risk of escaping.

Elected mayor Mr Davies called the move "disgraceful and outrageous".

Mr Davies, of the English Democrats, also said he was concerned about sex offenders being released into the community in the future and staying in the Doncaster area.

Andrew Neilson, of charity the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: "There is no evidence that Doncaster is likely to be experiencing a flood of sex offenders out of this prison.

"We have more sex offenders in our prisons than before.

"Prisons have to cope with that and have to house them somewhere."

Moorland is outside Doncaster and there are also nearby prisons at Hatfield, Lindholme and Marshgate.