Prisoners will be held in police cells (Image: Getty)
Police cells will be used to hold inmates as face a capacity crisis with fewer than 800 spaces left across the UK. With 87,556 people in prisons across the UK, they are at their highest population figure since September, when early release measures saw
Government has triggered ‘operation safeguard’ in response, an agreement between the National Police Chief Council and the prison service, which allows inmates to be held in police cells when prisons are full. Safeguard, which is expected to be announced by ministers later today, is predicted to be used for a number of weeks while being kept under review. It was last used in May last year for a number of months. A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “The new government inherited a prison system in crisis and took the necessary action to stop our jails from running out of cells.
Thousands of prisoners were released in September due to overcrowding (Image: Getty)
Don’t miss…
“Operation Safeguard is a well-established process that will help manage temporary capacity pressures, ahead of the new 1,500 capacity HMP Millsike opening in a few weeks’ time.”
HMP Millsike, a new prison in , is set to open in the coming weeks with 1,500 spaces.
as part of a 10-year prison capacity strategy, with 6,400 places in Lancashire, Yorkshire, Buckinghamshire and Leicestershire.
New wings will be added to existing prisons, creating 6,400 of the 14,000 new spaces, as well as 1,000 temporary accommodation “rapid deployment” cells. A further 1,000 cells are set to be refurbished.
Don’t miss… [REVEAL]
Last year, including broken windows threatening security at HMP Manchester, and fire safety impacting jails in Durham, Risley and Swaleside.
The capacity project will go alongside an independent review of sentencing policy by David Gauke, former Conservative justice secretary, to investigate the policies surrounding sending people to prison.