The Government has reintroduced emergency measures to address prison overcrowding, despite an early release scheme aimed at easing pressure on the system, as reported by The Telegraph.
Labour’s Justice Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, has reactivated Operation Safeguard, requiring police stations to set aside cells for prisoners due to a surge in jail numbers over the past two months.
As of Monday, the prison population in England and Wales had reached 87,556 – the highest in six months – leaving fewer than 1,300 available spaces. However, many of these spaces are in open prisons, which are restricted to low-risk offenders nearing release.
Operation Safeguard is only used when prison capacity is critically low. It was previously triggered last summer under the Conservative government before Ms. Mahmood introduced an early release scheme in the autumn. This initiative allowed thousands of prisoners to be released 40% of the way through their sentences instead of the usual halfway point, with the goal of preventing jails from running out of cells for 18 months.
However, despite these efforts, the prison population has returned to 99% capacity, with the latest figures close to the peak of 88,521 recorded in September last year. The reactivation of Operation Safeguard is initially set for eight weeks but may be extended.
Officials at the Ministry of Justice believe the situation may ease with the upcoming opening of HMP Millsike, a new prison in York, in May. The facility is part of the Government’s commitment to building 14,000 additional prison places by 2031.
Alongside expanding capacity, the Government is conducting an independent sentencing review, expected this spring, to explore ways to reduce the number of offenders receiving custodial sentences. The review is likely to propose an expansion of community-based punishments using technology such as GPS tags and smartwatches to monitor offenders and enforce rehabilitation programs.
Under these reforms, judges may have the option to divert lower-risk offenders – excluding those convicted of sexual or violent crimes – away from short-term imprisonment to alleviate overcrowding. 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. We have always said that would only be a temporary relief, while we build 14,000 new prison places and reform sentencing to ensure our prisons reduce reoffending, cut crime and make our streets safer.”
