Police cells could be used to hold prisoners
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 (MoJ).
However, critics said the problem could have been predicted.
In a statement in the Commons yesterday, Mr Hinds 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,” Mr Hinds added. “I’m announcing today that we’ve written to the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) to request the temporary use of up to 400 police cells through an established protocol known as Operation Safeguard.”
Shadow justice minister Ellie Reeves described the news as “yet another crisis created by this shambolic Tory Government”, adding: “It is hard to think of a more damning indictment of this Government’s failure on law and order than the fact they have now run out of cells to lock up criminals.”
Plaid Cymru Westminster leader Liz Saville Roberts said the use of police cells to hold offenders “shows the utter failure of Westminster’s justice policy”.
The Prison Governors’ Association said the circumstances were “not unforeseen” and warned that the plan will “cost the taxpayer more” and put “additional pressures on an already stressed criminal justice system”.
The organisation argued that the measure will “inevitably reduce the available numbers of police personnel to attend their core, frontline duties”, adding: “What we see today is a Government in panic. They have had sufficient time and warning to realise spaces were running out.”
The problem is “specific” to male prisons but youth jails and women’s prisons have “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 he 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.”