Prisoners could be held in police cells in a bid to reduce “acute and sudden” overcrowding in jails.
Justice minister Damian Hinds told MPs the Government has asked to use 400 police cells to hold inmates after a surge in overcrowding in male prisons over the last few months – the “first time ever” such a rapid increase has occurred. It comes after there was an “unprecedented increase” in the number of offenders coming into prisons in the north of England, according to the Ministry of Justice.
In a statement in the Commons on Wednesday, he said: “In recent months we have experienced an acute and sudden increase in the prison population, in part due to the aftermath of the Criminal Bar Association strike action over the summer, which led to a significantly higher number of offenders on remand. With court hearings resuming, we are seeing a surge in offenders coming through the criminal justice system, placing capacity pressure on adult male prisons in particular.”
He added: “I’m announcing today that we’ve written to the National Police Chiefs’ Council to request the temporary use of up to 400 police cells through an established protocol known as Operation Safeguard.”
The problem was “specific” to male prisons but youth jails and women’s prisons had “ample capacity” Mr Hinds said as he stressed the country has “not run out of prison places” and the emergency measures – which will provide the “immediate additional capacity” needed – “do not reflect a failure to plan ahead”.
Operation Safeguard is an “established protocol” which has been used before in periods of “high demand”, including between 2006 and 2008, he said, but added: “There has also been this highly unusual acute short-term surge, increases of over 700, and then over 800 in the last two months. It is the first time ever we have seen that sort of increase for two consecutive months.
“There are a number of capacity increase options that we have but they are just not possible, they are not available in that short timeframe. At no point in the last five years have we had fewer than a thousand cells available across the entire prison estate."
