AN URGENT hunt is underway after prisoners released from jail early went on the run.

It comes as Justice Minister Lord Falconer announced that 2,000 more prisoners would be freed early in a bid to ease overcrowding in jails.

Police said the three men - from Accrington, Blackburn and Burnley - were two burglars and a drugs dealer.

They had been released early on strict licence conditions or under a curfew.

But the trio have broken these terms and have disappeared.

Officers intend to return the men to jail to complete their sentences if and when they arrest them.

In a bid to help find them, police have taken the unusual step of released pictures and details of the men.

They are: Thomas Badzo, 22, from Burnley, who was jailed for 18 months in April 2006 for burglary and affray.

Sufryan Mohammed, 27, from Burnley, was sentenced for theft in September 2005 after committing two separate burglaries in Nelson.

Johnny Foley, 25 from Blackburn and Accrington, was jailed in February this year. His original sentence was for the supply of drugs.

They have been on the run for between a few months to up to two years.

The details of Martin Maughan, 24, from Accrington, were initially circulated.

But Maughan, who was jailed in December 2005 for theft from a vehicle, was arrested yesterday in Accrington following a tip-off to police about his whereabouts.

Inspector John Clucas said: "In Lancashire we are very good at returning people to prison who are recalled. In fact most are returned within hours.

"But occasionally there are a handful of people who make it hard for us to find them.

"There is a dual message.

"Prisoners might be released early but they have got to behave if they do.

"If they don't they have got the recall process.

"We give priority to this which should act as a warning that if they don't comply with whatever their conditions are if they are released early then we will be on their case."

Meanwhile, critics have been blasting the early release of prisoners.

Steve Edwards, chair of Lancashire Police Federation representing rank and file, said "a prison sentence should be a prison sentence".

He said: "The fact that these criminals have gone on the run highlights the need for it to be just that.

"If a judge or a magistrate or a jury sees the person as fit for prison and hands out a sentence then that should be followed through.

"I think this issue needs looking at in much more detail."

Norman Brennan, Director of the Victims of Crime Trust, said there was a "crisis of confidence" in the Prison Service.

He said: "The responsibility for the crisis within the prison service lies solely with the government.

"The type of offenders that the public need protection from are those already in prison.

"So why release them early from a prison term which is, in many cases only half of the sentence originally given?"

Under the new plans unveiled by Lord Falconer, inmates are to be released 18 days early as the prison population nears record levels.

Among those to be freed will be to be drug dealers, burglars and fraudsters.

But violent and sexual offenders will be excluded from the scheme.

Prime Minister Tony Blair's official spokesman said the overcrowding problems were in part due to the Government's success in tackling crime, which, he said, was down by one third.

Jails are now so full that criminals are being held in police cells and even those in court buildings, at a cost of £1 million per week.