Two of England's prisons are only occupied by foreign criminals, it has emerged.

Men convicted of crimes in the UK are being held at Bullwood Hall in Essex and Canterbury jail in Kent with a view to some of them being deported.

A report has warned of a high level of mental health problems among the non-British prisoners and figures also suggest an increase in the number of suicides.

Chief Inspector of Prisons Anne Owers said specialist services - such as those aimed at language needs, family contact and immigration - were available in the prisons.

Ms Owers said it was easier to provide specialist services in one place than have people spread around.

And she said she was not opposed to the idea of separating prisoners in this way if it proved successful.

The Ministry of Justice said the decision to create foreign national prisons "reflects our need to deport foreign national prisoners (FNPs) as quickly as possible".

There are five Borders and Immigration Agency officials working in each prison to identify immigration issues and expedite deportation procedures, a Ministry of Justice spokesman said.

On the question of whether further FNP prisons will be created, the spokesman said the Government is reviewing the role of these prisons to "see if the model has worked".

A Home Office spokesman said: "Our first priority is to deal with the most harmful first.

"Since 2006 we have nearly doubled the deportation rate for foreign national prisoners. We have also improved the way we deal with deportation cases.

"We have introduced a scheme to increase the number of foreign national prisoners returning to their own country before the end of their sentence, removed the need for prisoner consent when transferring them back home and are currently taking legislation through the House to improve the speed with which individuals are identified and processed for deportation."

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