Ministers certify that the Operation Safeguard contingency plan has been activated for the first time since 2007.
The administration has requested 400 additional cells from the police to ensure that the prison population has adequate housing.
Prisons minister Damian Hinds informed members of parliament that the Operation Safeguard contingency plan had been activated for the first time since 2007 due to a “rapid and dramatic increase in the jail population” in recent months.
He stated that the administration had “long expected” the increase owing to the implementation of new anti-crime measures and had “planned” for it.
Mr. Hinds, however, blamed strike action by the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) for the increase in remand detainees.
And now that court proceedings have returned to normal, he stated that the government was “observing an increase in offenders entering the criminal justice system, putting a strain on the capacity of adult male prisons in particular.”
Before they went on strike, the remand prison population had already reached a “decade high” of over 13,000, according to the CBA.
James Rossiter stated that any suggestion that the “out-of-control” jail population was a result of the organization’s actions was “government gaslighting to cover up their failure to invest in the criminal justice system for years before we took action to save the situation.”
Since coming to office in 2010, Labour has accused the government of slashing more than 10,000 prison beds, claiming officials are not “serious about protecting crime victims.”
Operation Safeguard is a protocol in which the government requests the temporary use of police cells by writing to the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC).
When agreed, inmates are then temporarily kept in cells in police stations across the nation, with the government and police working closely to determine which ones to utilize.
Mr. Hinds stated that this was a standard operating method “to ensure that our jail system can operate properly and safely at times of high demand.”
It was most recently initiated in January 2007, running until October 2008, and was initiated for four months in 2006 before that.
Deputy Chief Constable Nev Kemp, the NPCC’s lead for custody, stated, “Police will continue to conduct operational business, arrest criminals, and secure them in custody, with well-established plans in place for prisoners to be placed in the custody suites of neighboring forces should the need arise.
Mr. Hinds also stated that additional prison spaces would become available in the spring due to the construction of a new prison and additional housing blocks.
Murderers and rapists are prowling the streets
A representative of the Ministry of Justice added: “During the summer months, the pandemic and the barrister strike contributed to an unprecedented spike in the number of criminals entering jails in the north of England.
The public expects us to take the required steps to provide the additional space we require, so we are collaborating with the police to use a small number of cells in the short term so that we can continue to lock up criminals.
However, a representative for the CBA stated: “The backlog of cases and the resulting increase in the detention population are the results of prior funding cuts to the criminal justice system.
“In every way, the criminal justice system lacks sufficient personnel. The remand population reached a 14-year high by the end of June, partly because over 8,500 defendants were locked up without trial, and this was before the Criminal Bar escalated to strike action on defense cases.”
Steve Reed, the shadow justice minister, also accused the administration of allowing “murderers and rapists to wander our streets” by reducing the number of cells in which they should be incarcerated.
“Despite rape and sexual offense complaints reaching record highs, the Conservatives have eliminated almost 10,000 prison slots since 2010, while the justice secretary [Dominic Raab] is more concerned with preserving his position than combating crime,” he continued.
“Our nation requires a government that takes the protection of crime victims seriously. Labour will result in more police on the streets, a greater voice for victims, and a legal system that prevents criminals from running free.”
There are currently 121 prisons and 82,700 inmates in England and Wales.
