PRISONS minister Gerry Sutcliffe has exclusively revealed to the Examiner that New Hall women's jail will not take male inmates to ease the overcrowding crisis.
Latest figures show there are 79,642 prisoners in England and Wales - just 326 short of capacity.
To ease the overcrowding the Home Office is converting mental health hospitals and Army barracks into jails.
And two women's prisons - Bullwood Hall in Essex and Brockhill in Worcestershire - are being converted for male use.
But Mr Sutcliffe, under-secretary for justice at the Home Office, said there were no plans to send men to New Hall at Flockton.
He said: "We're not considering that option.
"The prison situation in West Yorkshire is not as critical as elsewhere in the country."
The Bradford South MP visited the town to speak to students at Huddersfield University about Megan's Law.
The Government is considering a British version of the American measure, which gives people the right to know if a sex offender moves to their area .
Mr Sutcliffe said: "Some 20% of sex offenders are predatory and normally target single mothers. Currently, such women have nowhere to go to discover if these men are paedophiles."
The minister denied that any such law would encourage vigilantism.
Mr Sutcliffe said: "The evidence has not shown this.
"In the US there is a five-year prison sentence for misusing this information."
He also defended tagging, despite recent negative Press coverage.
The MP said: "People who are tagged have a 4% re-offending rate.
"Of course, one re-offender is one too many, but compare that with non-tagged prisoners who have a 67% re-offending rate.
"Prisoners chosen for tagging are those who are most likely to re-establish family links and look for education or work."
Some 130 social work, police studies and criminology students attended Mr Sutcliffe's guest lecture in the university's Central Services Building.
