Winchester Prison is preparing to take its first batch of asylum seekers today.

The jail has been told to expect around 50 over the next few weeks as part of a controversial government scheme to put 500 in eight jails.

The decision to hold the detainees in the remand wing at the jail was revealed by the Daily Echo last month.

About five or six are expected to arrive today. More will follow over the following weeks.

Winchester MP Mark Oaten has expressed his concern over the issue. He has written to home secretary Jack Straw. In the letter he asks if it is true that the detainees have had their cases completed and that most are scheduled to be deported in about three weeks.

Mr Oaten wrote: "A number of groups have expressed their concerns to me about the inappropriateness of placing these people in a prison."

The Daily Echo understands that all the detainees have exhausted their appeals and are set to be deported from the country soon.

The Winchester Action Group for Asylum Seekers (WAGAS), set up in the early 1990s when Kurdish refugees were being held, is now poised to once again campaign against the the use of prison to hold asylum seekers.

Jail staff are unhappy that the detainees are being foisted on them. They argue the prison service is not designed to hold people accused of no offences. One member of staff has described it as a "nightmare."

Staff have little information about who they would be holding, not even their nationalities. The detainees will be treated like other prisoners on remand and will be allowed to wear their own clothes.