PRISONS are so cushy that 37,000 lags have refused early release and 42 others tried to break IN, it emerged yesterday.

It comes as business leaders will today say jails are like expensive bed and breakfasts.

Justice Secretary Jack Straw revealed the figures from the past eight years during Parliamentary Questions yesterday. They showed that annually thousands of inmates would rather stay inside than take Home Detention Curfew.

Straw ... quizzed in Commons

And there were 26 incidents of break-ins including one at a high security jail and 25 at open prisons. Ladders were used by 13 and three climbed walls. Shadow justice secretary Nick Herbert last night blasted the prison crisis as a farce.

He added: How secure are our jails if criminals can break into them? Whether they are trying to return to jail or dealers trying to traffic drugs, it is ludicrous that supposedly secure establishments can be breached.

The Confederation of British Industry will today tell the Government that reoffending rates are a colossal failure. Dr Neil Bentley of the CBI will say lack of rehabilitation means jail is just a hugely expensive bed and breakfast.

Two in three ex-inmates commit another crime in two years rising to three out of four young lags.

A 40 per cent hike in spending has had no effect on reoffending in the last ten years, the CBI will say.

The annual cost of crime is now £60billion, it has been revealed as much as is spent on education.

Last month thief Wesley Crawford, 42, begged to be allowed back into Sudbury open prison, Derbyshire, after three days on the run.

In April Donal Kelleher, 37, who stabbed his wife, boasted of outstanding rooms and healthcare at HMP Cardiff and said he got £10 a week to study for a maths GCSE.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said last night: Prison is anything but soft. He said lags who turned down early release could be unable to give an address or think they will not pass a risk assessment.