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Labour have claimed private firms could be deliberately understaffing prisons to boost their profits.

Shadow Justice Secretary Richard Burgon made the shock accusation after ministers revealed they do not force privately-run jails to publish their staff numbers.

Mr Burgon asked how many prison officers were in post at privately-managed prisons. But justice minister Lord Keen told him providing the numbers "is not a contractual requirement".

The Labour shadow minister claimed unions and staff have "regularly" warned him about managers "cutting corners to keep profits up".

In an official letter to Justice Secretary David Gauke, Mr Burgon wrote: "It cannot be right that information about the number of prison officers working at private prisons in the UK is being withheld from the public.

(Image: Daily Mirror)

"Especially given concerns that private prisons are deliberately retaining insufficient numbers of officers in order to boost profits.

"It is clearly in the public interest that the staffing levels in private prisons are routinely published, just are they are for publicly-run prisons."

Mr Burgon told the Mirror: "Public prisons publish their staffing levels every quarter, so it is unacceptable that private prisons can hide behind a cloak of secrecy.

"If the government wants to reassure the public that private profit is not being put before the safety of prisoners, staff and wider society then it should make these private companies come clean on staffing levels."

A Prison Service spokesperson said: “Every privately contracted prison is robustly scrutinised by an on-site Prison Service Controller who monitors their performance, including staffing levels. There is currently no evidence that any private prisons have insufficient staff.

“Some privately run prisons are among the best across the estate, and we are able to take rapid action if standards drop.”