Male prisons are running out of space as just 100 spaces are left, the Ministry of Justice has confirmed.
The prison system is already in the midst of an overcrowding crisis, not least after the activation of Operation Early Dawn, where defendants in active court cases are kept in police cells until standard prison spaces open up.
And arrests from country-wide riots and Notting Hill Carnival have soared into the hundreds over recent days and weeks.
The Prime Minister noted yesterday how the Government had to check the number of free prison spaces each day in the wake of the riots to “make sure we could arrest, charge and prosecute people quickly”.
Though the pressure is expected to ease once courts reopen in the wake of the Bank Holiday Weekend, magistrates were told as recently as Friday to delay jailing criminals as the prison population swelled to record levels.
At the end of the week, there were 88,234 men in prison – the highest number since weekly data was first published in 2011.
But the MoJ has said that staff were “working incredibly hard” to solve the crisis – with 500 new prison places understood to be freed up in the coming weeks.
The MoJ, led by Shabana Mahmood, could be forced to activate even more emergency measures – known as Operation Brinker – if the situation worsens.
Male prisons are running out of spaces
PA
Operation Brinker is a never-before-used contingency plan where police forces would be told to hold suspects in their cells for even longer than under Operation Early Dawn, which is already underway in the north of England.
Under it, alleged criminals could potentially be held overnight or for longer than 24 hours while awaiting court dates.
With that in mind, do you think foreign criminals currently serving time in UK jails should be deported? Have your say.
Source Agencies
