SCOTLAND'S prison population has hit a record high, with jails bursting at the seams.
Last week 7609 people were locked up in cells across the country - 1000 more than the jails were built to accommodate.
And the female jail population has soared by 90% in the past 10 years to 393.
The crisis in Scotland's jails has been triggered by a rise of almost 20% in prisoner numbers over the past 10 years.
Overcrowding has also been triggered by a high rate of re-offending.
Scotland's jail shame was revealed on a day when Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill was visiting the country's only female prison - Cornton Vale in Stirling - where he quizzed staff about the challenges the jail faced.
Speaking ahead of the visit, Mr MacAskill described the rise in the jail population as "alarming" and "shameful".
He said today: "It goes across both genders but it's exacerbated among the female population."
Mr MacAskill admitted too many offenders were being sent to Scots jails, which were "bursting at the seams".
He added: "We inherited a prison population which is operating at record levels, almost 1000 beyond design capacity.
"Our chief inspector of prisons regularly talks of the catalogue of problems caused by overcrowding.
"We are loading up our prisons, whether it's Cornton Vale or Barlinnie, with not just bad people, who need to be in prison, but sad people,
who need to be treated and helped.
"We cannot go on as we are, because our prisons are going to burst.
"We lock up far more people than most other countries in the world."
He said Scotland was in a "perverse situation" where offending had gone down, but the jail population had hit record levels.
"We have a huge problem with a huge number of people who commit many crimes," he said.
Mr MacAskill said there were around 14,000 cases of sentences under six months every year.
"Our jails are bursting at the seams. We can't tackle the scourge of drugs. We can't address organised crime operating from our jails when we are full to the gunnels with the flotsam and jetsam who should be treated elsewhere."
Mr MacAskill said the mandatory use of supervised attendance orders - a community-based alternative to jail for those who fail to pay fines - should help reduce the numbers behind bars.
"We need some fresh thinking in this area, which is why I've set up an independent Prisons Commission to look at the purpose of prison in a modern Scotland."
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