NOTORIOUS privateers are “running rings round the government,” Britain’s leading criminal justice campaigner has warned following revelations that G4S and Serco are getting £7 in every £10 spent on prisons and probation contracts.

A report published today has revealed that companies increased their grip on the sector in spite of them both being under criminal investigation for overcharging the government for curfew tags. A major union is now calling for a review of privatisation across the public sector.

The fourth UK Justice Policy Review, published by the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, suggests that funding cuts and overcrowded jails are leading to growing misery and conflict among prisoners.

Speaking exclusively to the Star yesterday, Howard League for Penal Reform chief executive Frances Crook said: “It’s extraordinary that when a company is being investigated for potential criminal activity, that it’s still trusted by the government with our money.

“It raises questions about the capacity of government to manage these big contracts. These companies are running rings round the government.”

Centre for Crime and Justice Studies director Richard Garside was also incredulous.

“Despite all the controversy associated with G4S and Serco, they remain the dominant private-sector contractors in criminal justice,” he said.

“Both companies allegedly overcharged the government for electronic tagging. Yet the Ministry of Justice continues to pay them millions of pounds a year for tagging work.”

The report, which is based on analysis of Ministry of Justice transparency data, also reveals an astonishing 69 per cent rise in self-inflicted deaths in jails from 2013-14. This is the biggest year-on-year rise in a 10-year period.

Commenting on the growing concern over deteriorating prison conditions last year, which threw then-justice secretary Chris Grayling in the spotlight, the report’s authors observe: “Many viewed this as a crisis caused by staff and budget cuts, overcrowding and an increasingly punitive prison regime.”

The figures show a whopping 18 per cent fall in criminal justice expenditure and staffing cuts across the police, prisons and probation. Only Scotland bucks the trend, with increasing expenditure and staffing levels.

The Prison Officers Association, which has fiercely resisted these cuts, said the findings showed that “the criminal justice system is in meltdown.”

The union’s general secretary Steve Gillan said the increasing presence of profiteers in jails and the privatisation of the probation service was “not the answer.”

He said: “We believe in well-funded public services. We demand a review of privatisation, not just in prisons but across all public services.”

Ms Crook warned that the government’s wider privatisation agenda was a recipe for incompetence.

“We’re seeing the same thing in the health service and the criminal justice system,” she added. “You can’t just hand over a contract and walk away. You have to micro-manage it to make sure it’s run properly and that there’s no fraud.”