Three out of four prisoners go straight back to crime

And offenders being monitored by the probation service went on to commit almost 600 serious further offences, including murder, rape and grievous bodily harm, in 2008/09.

In all, 74% of offenders who were discharged from custody or started a court order between January and March 2000 were reconvicted within nine years, the Ministry of Justice said.

Details of reconviction rates at individual prisons in 2007, released for the first time, showed that at one in eight adult prisons across England and Wales, more than 70% of inmates serving short sentences of a year or less were released only to be reconvicted within 12 months.

At Dorchester prison, 74.7% of inmates serving short sentences were released only to be reconvicted within 12 months.

The 237 men at Dorchester prison on short-term sentences had an average of more than 60 previous offences and had previously served an average of almost 10 custodial sentences.

At New Hall women's prison in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, 76.6% of those on short sentences were reconvicted within 12 months.

Its 435 inmates had committed an average of more than 40 previous offences and served more than four previous custodial sentences.

And at Elmley category C prison in Kent, 73.9% of those on short sentences were reconvicted within 12 months.

Its 418 inmates had committed an average of more than 40 previous offences and served more than six previous custodial sentences.

Justice Minister Crispin Blunt said: "Whilst it will be invidious to make comparisons between different prisons with very different types of offenders, this is another important step in focusing our work on ending the cycle of reoffending."

A "more intelligent approach to sentencing" was needed, he added.

"Reoffending rates among short sentence prisoners remain unacceptably high. We will address this failure in the system by making prisons into places of hard work which prepare offenders more effectively for the outside world.

"Prison remains the right place for the most serious, dangerous and persistent offenders.

"We must stop the revolving door of crime and reoffending. We will do this by targeting interventions that work for victims, offenders and the community."

Offenders given short-term sentences have a higher reoffending rate than those given community orders, suspended sentences or probation supervision, officials said, with the difference being about seven percentage points.

But this difference dropped to just 4.6% when the time the offenders spent in prison - in which they were not free to reoffend - was taken into consideration.

The figures also showed that almost one in five adults (19.2%) who were given a caution in 2008 went on to reoffend.

A survey of prisoners' drugs use found 71% of prisoners used drugs in the year prior to custody, compared with 13% of men and 6% of women in the general population.

For those who used drugs in the four weeks prior to custody, more than three in five went on to reoffend, compared with three in 10 who had never used drugs.

And more than 7% of prisoners first used heroin while behind bars.

Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke has said he wants to cut the number of short-term prison sentences handed out by the courts in a bid to cut prison numbers and reoffending.

Today's figures also showed reconviction rates were higher for prisoners who experienced emotional, sexual or physical abuse as a child, witnessed violence in the home, who had been expelled or permanently excluded from school, or who had been taken into care.

They were also higher for those with no qualifications, the figures showed.

Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said: "These figures give Government a clear mandate to integrate its social and criminal justice policies. To prevent reoffending, it's the ordinary things that count - a home, a job and a supportive family.

"If you compare the results of a community penalty with a short prison sentence, you can see why the Justice Secretary wants to keep petty offenders out of prison and paying back in the community."

Jon Collins, campaign director for the Criminal Justice Alliance which represents almost 50 organisations, said: "These figures set out in stark terms the failure of the criminal justice system, with three-quarters of offenders convicted of a further offence within a decade.

"The criminal justice system can, and must be made to work better, but this report also shows that reform of the justice system needs to be supported by changes in housing, health and social policy that help offenders to turn their lives around."

He added: "These statistics also refute any remaining arguments that short prison sentences work.

"Community penalties are more effective at reducing reoffending, while giving offenders an opportunity to pay back to the community, and this report provides further support for Ken Clarke's ambition to significantly cut the use of short prison sentences."