Fresh UK prisons crisis as riots lead to fears of overcrowding

‘There has been a massive rise in the week-on-week prison population,’ said the national chair of the Prison Officers’ Association. Photograph: Andrew Aitchison/Corbis/Getty Images

The prison system in England is set to be thrown into a fresh crisis this week with scores of alleged criminals to be released on bail rather than taken to court hearings.

The jailing of hundreds of rioters has pushed prisons towards full capacity, forcing HM Prison and Probation Service to prepare Operation Early Dawn, a contingency plan that prevents inmates being taken from police cells to courts unless a prison place is available. Those who do go to court and are given jail sentences may find themselves sent to prison hundreds of miles from home.