THE BISHOP of Winchester has criticised the government for continuing to hold asylum seekers in UK prisons.

The Rt Rev Michael Scott-Joynt said the practice was against the principles of justice and compassion.

The bishop, the fifth most senior clergyman in the Church in Eng-land, has written about the issue to Home Secretary Jack Straw.

The government has 500 places in prisons across the country for asylum seekers aged over 21 in what they described last autumn as a short-term strategy.

The men are held mainly after their applications to stay have been refused and they await deportation.

But the bishop said the jailing of refugees limited their access to their legal advice and families and perceived them as criminals.

He explained that, after consulting campaigners he felt the extra numbers on an already crowded prison population also meant inmates were suffering from pressure on resources and prison staff.

He called on the government to put the refugees in centres where they would not be so isolated.

He also said that if they have to stay in jail then the government should be spending more money to help alleviate problems.

While conceding the government had "enormous difficulties" finding solutions, the bishop said: "If asylum seekers have to be held, they should be held in places where they can have the best possible access to their families and lawyers. That seems to me to be the basic requirements of justice and compassion.

"I recognise simply that prisons are the wrong places to put them. They are unsuitable places both for them, as they speak little English, and because of the difficulties of their presence."