Police cells to be used again to hold prisoners as jails ‘close to capacity'
The contingency plan called Operation Safeguard has been re-enacted as the number of prisoners in England and Wales reached a six-month high.
Ministry of Justice">
The prison population stood at 87,556 as of Monday, according to data published by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).
This is the highest weekly figure since the population climbed to a record 88,521 on September 6 last year, just days ahead of the first wave of early releases which saw thousands of inmates freed on licence to tackle overcrowding.
In a written statement on Tuesday, Shabana Mahmood said January saw the highest average monthly growth of the prison population in almost two years.
She added that as of Monday, there were 824 places left in adult male prison.
Ms Mahmood said: 'Operating this close to critical capacity increases the risk that prisons do not have sufficient space for a given prisoner entering the system and so an alternative has to be found, which is most frequently in a police cell.
'Given the recent increase in demand, it is necessary, and prudent, for me to temporarily reactivate Operation Safeguard to better manage the flow of offenders into the prison estate.
'This is an established protocol that will ensure that HMPPS (HM Prison and Probation Service) and police forces can jointly plan which police cells may be required to hold offenders on any particular day.'
The Lord Chancellor also revealed that finding prisoners an alternative space has happened 'hundreds of times' in recent weeks, 'far above' the rate seen during normal operations.
'On the night of 10 March, there were 124 no-space lockouts, which is the highest number of business-as-usual (BAU) lockouts on record.'
The operation was previously used in February 2023 under the previous government, and was formally deactivated in October last year by this Government, Ms Mahmood added.
Up to 200 police cells will be available at any one time to hold prisoners over a day or overnight while a jail space is found for them.
Ms Mahmood said the plan will be under 'constant review' and will stand down police cells as soon as they are not needed.
The move comes as a new 458-capacity houseblock at HMP Rye Hill in Warwickshire was opened, and a new 1,500-space prison HMP Millsike is set to open in North Yorkshire in the coming weeks.
But the Lord Chancellor said she expects prison capacity will 'remain tight until the new capacity is fully operational'.
Ministers have promised to find a total of 14,000 cell spaces in jails by 2031 while an independent sentencing review exploring tougher punishments outside of prison is expected to be published in the spring as part of efforts to curb overcrowding.
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