Criminals to be held in police stations until prisons free up space

POLICE forces have been put on standby to take prisoners in their cells for the first time in 15 years because the jails are full.

The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) wrote to police forces today in the north west of England and the Midlands to request the use of police cells for sentenced prisoners due to a lack of prison spaces. The move has been made under emergency measures, known as Operation Safeguard, that were last used under the Labour government in 2008.

The prison population has risen to 82,700 because of record numbers of suspects held on remand in prisons after the barristers’ strike halted hundreds of trials.

The number of remand prisoners jumped from 10,000 at the beginning of the pandemic to 15,000 at the peak of the barristers’ action.

With court hearings resuming, there has also been a surge in offenders coming through the criminal justice system into prisons.

An MOJ spokesman said: “We have given notice to the National Police Chiefs Council to make available cells in police custody suites in the North of ‘This will help to manage the short-term pressure on places driven in part by the impact of strikes and Covid’ England and West Midlands as planned under Operation Safeguard. This will help ensure we have enough spaces to manage the short-term pressure on prison places driven in part by the impact of the barristers’ strike and Covid pandemic. We are building 20,000 extra prison places and our newest prison is set to open in the spring.”

Only male prisons have run out of room, with most located in the North of England.

The prison system has a capacity of 84,000, but has to leave headroom of about 1,000 for emergencies such as fires, floods or riots. It is thought the crisis could last until spring even though the MOJ has brought an extra 3,100 places in the past year as it aims to expand capacity by 20,000 with new prisons being constructed.

Most offenders are only expected to be held in police cells overnight before being moved into prisons through the natural churn of inmates being freed.