The prison service is beginning to feel the impact of the UK riots amid the capacity crisis in jails across England and Wales, Sky News understands.
It’s understood that in the last 24 hours the police have put around 400 people on court lists, with many of them being remanded – which will put considerable pressure on prison space.
The service currently has fewer than 700 free spaces available in the male estate. It considers itself in “operational trouble” if they have any fewer than 300.
The government has promised over 500 new cells to account for and accommodate those being sentenced following violence and rioting in recent weeks, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer promising “swift justice”. But the new prison places are not yet available.
As of Monday, 927 people had been arrested over the riots. Of those, 466 had been charged.
The prison service was coping last week. And it still is, just about.
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The courts are typically quieter over the month of August than the rest of the year because of a summer break. That helps, but as of the start of this week, I understand there are considerable nerves within the service.
On Monday, the Prison Governors’ Association wrote a letter to its members – shared with Sky News – condemning the violence but expressing concern over the impact on an already crippling criminal justice system.
“The impact of this surge may take days or weeks to peak”, it said, asking individual governors to provide their feedback and expressing fears about other “limitations” including staff shortages and violence as a result of overcrowding.
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As of 10 September, a new scheme to release certain prisoners early will come into force, releasing around 5,500 people, as the ‘automatic release point’ reduces from 50% of the sentence served to 40% – with people serving the rest of their sentence on licence.
Certain prisoners including those serving sentences for sexual or violent crimes are excluded, but this will see a sizeable reduction in the number of prisoners behind bars.
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As of Monday however, sources close to the prison service tell me: “September all of a sudden feels a very long way off.”
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “The government has brought in over 500 new prison places early, to ensure there is a cell waiting for everyone involved in the recent disorder and thuggery.”
