Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke will say deep cuts in public spending will require a new approach to dealing with crime and punishment.

In a speech at the Center for Crime and Justice Studies in London, he will describe the doubling of the prison population since he was Home Secretary in 1992 as "astonishing" and a clear failure of the penal system.

"It costs more to put someone in prison for a year than it does to send a boy to Eton — on average 38,000 pounds," Clarke will say according to extracts seen ahead of his speech.

"The taxpayer is providing keep and accommodation — albeit in grossly overcrowded conditions — at expensive hotel prices ..."

The prison population reached a record high in May of 85,201. Almost half of all prisoners reoffend within a year of their release, official figures show.

Britain has one of the highest prison populations and one of the highest crime rates in Western Europe.

In his fist major speech since taking office, Clarke will set out a new approach to cut re-offending rates that will involve paying private firms and voluntary organizations according to how many inmates they rehabilitate.

Clarke will also commit to a full review of sentencing policy that could scrap short prison sentences for many crimes which he says are ineffectual.

"It is virtually impossible to do anything productive with offenders on short sentences. And many of them end up losing their jobs, their homes and their families during their short term inside," he will say.

Clarke says his reforms would not be soft on hardened criminals who commit "nasty offenses," but added that he believed in intelligent sentencing that gave value for money.

.".. just banging up more and more people for longer without actively seeking to change them is what you would expect of Victorian England."