CRIMINALS will be ordered to fill in potholes and collect the bins instead of going to prison, under government proposals.

The radical plans have been drawn up in a bid to ease the jail overcrowding crisis.

Convicts will also be sentenced to work and have their wages handed over to victims and victims charities under the shake-up.

Britain is in the grip of a severe prisons overcrowding crisis – and has already released lags early to free up cells.

Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood is looking at radical plans to send fewer convicts to jail.

Criminals facing prison sentences of less than a year will be spared jail except in exceptional circumstances, under the controversial shake-up being unveiled this week.

To offset this, Ms Mahmood wants to massively toughen up community sentences.

A source close to the Justice Secretary said “With prisons so close to collapse, we are going to have to punish more offenders outside of prison. 

“We need punishment to be more than just a soft option or a slap on the wrist. 

“If we want to prove that crime doesn’t pay, we need to get offenders working for free – with the salary they would have been paid going back to their victims. 

“And we need them doing the jobs that the public really want them to do – not just scrubbing graffiti, but filling up potholes and cleaning the bins.”

Currently, convicts sentenced to community work tend to volunteer at places like charity shops.

Under the new proposals, Ms Mahmood will work with private companies, like supermarkets, to give criminals jobs.

This could include stacking shelves or on the checkout.

Their wages would be taken out at source and handed to victims or victims charities. 

Councils will also be able to assign jobs they want done to convicts who do not get jail terms.

This can include things like filling in potholes, clearing rubbish bins and scrubbing graffiti.