A former young offenders institution is set to reopen as an adult prison early following the arrests of hundreds of rioters across the country.

HMP Cookham Wood in Borstal, near Rochester, will reopen in the coming weeks, the Ministry of Justice says.

It is understood this move has been taken in order to deal with the high number of people on remand.

KentOnline reported that the prison would close in March after it faced criticism over recent years for high levels of violence among inmates and appalling conditions.

The prison, which will have roughly the same capacity of 188 when it housed young offenders, was due to then reopen this summer as an adult institute.

It is understood these plans have been brought forward following the riots across the country.

More than 400 people have been arrested during the unrest over the last week following the murder of three young girls and the stabbing of eight others and two adults in Southport on Monday, July 29.

Suspected rioters are now appearing in courts, which could sit through the night to deal with those charged.

Justice minister Heidi Alexander said today that the Government will bring more than 500 additional prison places into use to deal with rioting, and some 6,000 specialist police officers were at the ready.

However, prison space is in short supply.

The Prison Governors’ Association (PGA), which represents more than 95% of all prison governors and managers working in England and Wales, called for action in June.

It said the entire criminal justice system “stands on the precipice of failure” as it called on the next government to tackle problems “without delay”.

Then in July Prime Minister, Sir Kier Stammer, said the prison overcrowding crisis was “worse” than he thought and admitted the government was considering freeing more criminals early to alleviate the problem.

A spokesperson for the judiciary said: “There are contingency measures in place across the criminal justice system, to handle any unexpected and exceptional increases in demand on the magistrates’ courts.

“This includes additional sittings of courts during regular hours which is happening now. At present no emergency protocols have been activated and this remains under review.”