Emergency powers on prison overcrowding after riots

A temporary measure to manage pressures in prisons in the north of England has been reactivated, following longstanding capacity failures and recent outbreaks of far-right disorder.

In recent weeks, prisons in the north of England have seen hundreds of people enter the prison estate, after the demonstrations.

This has exacerbated longstanding capacity issues in prisons, which have been operating at critical levels for the last several years.

Operation Early Dawn, a long-standing plan to hold defendants in police cells and not summon them to magistrates’ courts until space in prison in available was activated on Monday morning.

The Ministry of Justice says the measures  will be put in place in the North East and Yorkshire, Cumbria and Lancashire, and the Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire regions.

Prisons and probation minister Lord Timpson said: “We inherited a justice system in crisis and exposed to shocks. As a result, we have been forced into making difficult but necessary decisions to keep it operating.

“However, thanks to the hard work of our dedicated staff and partners, we have brought forward additional prison places and now introduced Operation Early Dawn to manage the pressure felt in some parts of the country.”

Riot police at Victoria Square (Image: Henry Lisowski)

National Police Chiefs’ Council custody lead Deputy Chief Constable Nev Kemp said: “We are working closely with criminal justice system partners to manage demand in the system and ensure that the public are safe.

“Policing will continue to arrest anyone that they need to in order to keep the public safe, including policing protests and events and ensuring that people are arrested as expected.”

Mark Fairhurst, national chairman of the Prison Officers’ Association, told BBC Breakfast the policy would lead to “justice delayed”.

He said the most serious offenders would still end up in court and be guaranteed a prison cell, but less serious offenders would either spend longer in police cells or be bailed.

“It’s justice delayed at the moment, because we’re not clogging up police cells, so they might have to delay some of their operations,” he said.

“When they arrest people, they’ve got to make sure they’ve got them a custody space in police custody, because we might have prisoners filling up their cells.

“Of course, they have got to pay overtime to supervise prisoners.”

But Mr Fairhurst clarified that this would not mean that some people who would normally go to jail would avoid it.

Tom Franklin, chief executive of the Magistrates’ Association, said the measures would lead to delays in defendants appearing in court.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme, he said: “What this means is there will be a delay in some people who have been charged coming to court because the Prison Service can’t guarantee if they were remanded in custody, there would be a place for them.”

He added: “We understand it is not in all regions, it is some regions, and we understand that it will be reviewed during the working day.

“We are assured that it is a temporary measure.”

After the riots across England following the stabbing of three girls in Southport, a total of 460 people had appeared in magistrates’ courts in relation to the disorder by the end of Thursday.

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Operation Early Dawn was previously triggered by the Conservative government in May in a bid to tackle overcrowding in jails.

Last month, the Ministry of Justice said violence and self-harm in prison had risen to “unacceptable” levels as overcrowding pushed jails to the “point of collapse”.

Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced plans to cut the proportion of the sentence inmates must serve behind bars from 50 per cent to 40 per cent.

The temporary move does not apply to those convicted of sex offences, terrorism, domestic abuse or some violent offences.

It is expected to result in 5,500 offenders being released in September and October.

The Government says it will keep the measure under constant review and will activate or deactivate as necessary. Ongoing trials in the Crown Court will not be directly impacted and prisoners being held for Crown Court hearings will be brought to court and taken back to prison as usual.