Going into the country's jails to recruit troops is the latest desperate measure from a British army that is dwindling in size while facing increasing commitments overseas.
Critics say the proposal shows how the army is having to scrape the barrel to find enough soldiers to fulfil increasing commitments in Kosovo, Bosnia and East Timor.
Britain has already been attacked by international pressure groups for allowing children to sign up when they are only 16 and before they even have the right to vote.
The Ministry of Defence maintains that by the time recruits have completed basic training and are ready to be deployed they are at least 17, and denies it is exploiting them.
The British Army is widely respected as perhaps one of the best trained and motivated professional armed services in the world, but it is also one of the smallest, and is active in more theatres than at any other time since the end of World War II.
This summer nearly half its soldiers were in operations from Northern Ireland to East Timor, so that many were forced to undertake back-to-back six-month tours without their families.
The official strength is 109,000 men and women but because of a continued number of troops opting to leave the actual number is just over 90,000.