INMATES at a North-East young offenders' institution have held a four-hour sit-down protest over the lack of recreation time they have been given.

About 15 inmates at HMYOI Deerbolt, near Barnard Castle, County Durham, held a peaceful demonstration in the prison canteen during their lunch break on Sunday.

Staff finally managed to bring the protest to an end just after 4pm and the inmates were taken back to their cells.

Prison officer Gary Lupton said: "We are experiencing an unusually high number of staff taking sick leave, which has meant we have had to close some wings until we are back to full strength.

"This is not the sort of situation we could have foreseen, and because of that there has been a reduction in inmates' recreation time.

"I think some of the inmates were frustrated that they were not allowed out on as much recreation and association time.

"But despite that, they did not comply with prison rules which means they will have been punished."

The news comes only days after a four-day disturbance at Holme House prison in Stockton.

And yesterday, one of the region's oldest prisons was named among the most overcrowded in the country.

Victorian-built Durham Prison was ranked 11th in a league table released by prison reform charity the Howard League for Penal Reform.

The charity said that inmates in more than 60 per cent of the 87 jails in England and Wales were being held in overcrowded conditions.

Holme House was ranked 31st in the overcrowding table, Northallerton was ranked 23rd, Low Newton in Durham 33rd and Full Sutton, near York, 43rd.

The Howard League said it was calling on the Government to legislate for a statutory limit on the prison population, which now stands at a record 71,500.

It revealed that 617 prisoners were filling 411 places at Durham Prison, based on Home Office figures.

Frances Crook, director of the Howard League, said: "Our prisons are becoming no more than warehouses once again.

"Ultimately the consequences of overcrowding are jeopardising both the safe running of the prison system and the rehabilitation of individual offenders."

Prisons Minister Hilary Benn said: "The current level of overcrowding is undesirable, but very limited."

Mr Benn added that a review will examine management of the prison population and that the Prison Service plans to increase its capacity by about 1,100 places by the end of October, with a further 1,200 places by March next year.