Lewes Prison could face severe rioting because of overcrowding at the jail, it was claimed today.

The Board of Visitors has expressed serious concerns at the growing population inside the Victorian jail.

The prison, which has a capacity of 485 prisoners, is now holding 536 inmates.

The situation is likely to get worse as the prison population increases.

The Lewes board is one of 53 who have told the Prison Reform Trust they are "very troubled" by the effects of prison overcrowding.

Many boards warned such conditions could lead to rioting and disorder unless urgent steps are taken.

Governor of Lewes Prison, Paul Carroll, declined to comment on the overcrowding.

But Juliet Lyons, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said the Lewes board had voiced fears about the spiralling prison population.

She said: "They have expressed their concerns about overcrowding and the damage it does to the regime at Lewes.

"Reports from the Boards of Visitors must act as a wake-up call to government to take action to avoid this looming crisis in our jails."

Earlier this year, a damning report by the Lewes board described conditions at the prison, built in 1853, as "Dickensian", "appalling" and "inhumane".

In one 12-month period there were three deaths, two attempted break-outs, drug dealing and assault allegations which led to eight staff being suspended, although they were later reinstated.

The board sent a series of demands to the Secretary of State which included closing the segregation unit which it called a "degrading dungeon", taking radical steps to stamp out drug trafficking and introducing a fast-track for lifers to end two-year waits at Lewes.

In its survey - due to be published in full next month - the trust found the overwhelming majority of prison boards of visitors had serious concerns about spiralling prison populations.

Chairman of the National Advisory Council of Boards of Visitors, Brian Baker said: "We believe unless action is taken to ensure further disruptions to regimes do not occur, our overstretched prisons will face major problems of control."

The survey found just over half the boards expressed concern about the problems caused by constant movements between prison, the great distances inmates are held from home and the difficulty of maintaining family visits.

Martin Narey, director-general of the Prison Service, said courts had to get the message that giving criminals very short jail sentences was wasting time and money.

He said: "It's a waste of time and public money and it's making the work we can do with longer term prisoners more and more difficult."

The number of inmates in England and Wales has mushroomed to 71,000 - up 4,000 in 12 months - despite the efforts of Home Secretary David Blunkett and Lord Chief Justice, Lord Woolf, to persuade magistrates not to jail offenders for minor crimes.

Although Lewes is 11 per cent over capacity, it is still a long way behind the most seriously overcrowded jails which include Shrewsbury, Preston and Leicester.