Extra jail beds added

The Government's extra double-bunking in prisons has added 716 more beds.

About 20 per cent of prison cells were double-bunked before the Government started adding more in response to muster predictions that initially said prison capacity would be full by February this year.

The prison population on Monday was 8532, 49 below its record high last month.

The Government's legal right to double bunk was challenged in the Court of Appeal yesterday, which heard an application to appeal from the Corrections Association.

The court reserved its decision.