Prisoners in Maidstone are to be given an extra £5 to phone home this Christmas, we can exclusively reveal.

Payments will be added to the inmates’ call allowance and is supposed to be used to wish their families a Merry Christmas.

The category C prison in County Road houses 552 inmates, with only those who have a good behaviour record given the bonus.

VIDEO: Inmates to phone home with £5 Christmas bonus. Joshua Coupe reports

If all inmates were to get the extra £5 the prison would have to pay out £2,760, but this figure is expected to be lower as not all prisoners will receive the funds.

Among the prison’s all-foreign population are 65 Asian, 126 African and 67 Caribbean inmates and 259 men identifying as ‘other white’, a category which includes eastern Europeans.

The most common religions are Christianity (331), Islam (186) and Hindu (12). It is unknown how many inmates celebrate Christmas.

Prisoners can add to their phone allowance by carrying out various jobs around the facility.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said: “This credit is for prisoners to speak to their families using the prison phone system and cannot be spent elsewhere.

"Maintaining family ties can play a vital role in helping prisoners turn away from crime and make our streets safer.”

The prison service added that perks like this are arranged on a case-by-case basis, but the service had not heard of any similar plans elsewhere.

The bonus comes two months after Justice Secretary Michael Gove announced the Ministry of Justice would have to find £249m of savings.

Earlier this month a report revealed the prison was failing to rehabilitate and rehome offenders.

A team of 20 officials carried out an unannounced inspection in August and despite being reasonably safe, found a lack of robust public protection arrangements, promotion of equality, legal support and education management. Fifty-five recommendations were made, along with 19 housekeeping points.

The report was branded disappointing by the inspectorate.