Inmates at an open jail are going out to work as bus drivers, getting paid full rates.

The prisoners at Ford Open Prison are employed to ferry passengers, including schoolchildren, around Arundel, Worthing and Chichester.

Details of the men's paid jobs came to light just months after The Argus reported how inmates were going to Tesco to do their shopping.

Some prisoners nicknamed the jail HMP Butlins after members of Ford Prison Officers' Association said inmates were coming back with cans of lager, vodka and whisky and even a smoked salmon.

But governor Fiona Radford, appointed in November 2003, refuted any suggestion that Ford, near Littlehampton, was a holiday camp.

Four prisoners at Ford are paid to drive buses for Stagecoach. They work unsupervised as they drive the public on various routes every day.

Bus company staff raised concerns, saying the public had a right to know who was driving buses, even if the category D prisoners posed no threat.

Stagecoach managing director Andrew Dyer said: "We support entirely the fact that people who have committed crimes should be punished but they don't stay in prison for ever.

"When they come out they have to be integrated back into society. If by us helping them have a worthwhile job means they don't re-offend then we have helped the community at large.

"The prisoners we employ are in the final stages of their sentences at Ford and are being prepared for release into the community.

"They undergo a very strict vetting procedure by the prison authorities to make absolutely sure there is no risk to public safety.

"We carry lots of children and there is absolutely no question of us employing sex offenders. The prisoners we have employed have been model employees.

Stagecoach employs two prisoners working from Chichester bus station in Southgate and two based at the Worthing depot in Marine Parade. The Home Office said four other prisoners were working as drivers for two other Sussex bus companies, Arundel Community Transport and Compass Travel in Worthing.

No one at either firm was available for comment.

A Home Office spokesman said: "Work placements in the community are a valuable tool to help prisoners who are close to their release date deal with specific resettlement needs like finding a job, somewhere to live or becoming accustomed to being out in the community.

"Prisoners are subject to a thorough risk assessment before being given a placement.

"Open prisons play a vital role in the resettlement process. The regimes are focused on effective resettlement in the community after release and encourage the development of personal responsibility."

Category D prisoners are those said to pose the least risk to the public.

Frances Crook, director of the Howard League for Penal reform, said: "Many will have spent ten or even 15 years in prison. We want them to be released safely and the world of work is a very good way of achieving that. We would much rather prisoners were contributing to society and paying taxes rather than lying on their bed not doing anything and then be suddenly released."

Tory MP Howard Flight, who represents Arundel and South Downs, said: "It's no bad idea if the prisoners have been properly vetted and we're short of bus drivers.

"But it's wrong for them to get a full hourly wage when it's costing tax payers more to keep them than Eton school fees.

"They should get a modest sum for their work and the rest should go towards paying for their keep."