The emergency Operation Early Dawn measure to clear prison space amid the sentencing of anti-migration rioters, protesters, and social media posters will reportedly see at least 5,500 criminals released early by the autumn.
The left-wing Labour Party government of Prime Minister Keir Starmer enacted emergency measures on Monday to free up prison cells in England as over 1,000 people have been arrested in connection to the outbreak of violence, or for posts on social media, in the UK following the mass stabbing at a children’s dance party in Southport last month allegedly by a second-generation Rwandan migrant teen.
According to Sky News, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood is reportedly planning to cut the mandatory time behind bars before parole by 40 to 50 per cent for certain criminals. This would result in 5,500 prisoners being released back on the streets early in September and October.
The measures will specifically target prisons in the Cheshire, Cumbria, Lancashire, Manchester, Merseyside, the North East, and Yorkshire regions. In total, the prison system capacity of England and Wales currently stands at 89,191, however, as of Friday 87,893 slots were occupied, the BBC reports.
The government has claimed that those convicted of domestic abuse, sexual offences, terrorism, and some violent offences will not be eligible for early release. Those involved in the recent riots will also not be eligible.
Prisons Minister Lord Timpson said: “We inherited a justice system in crisis and exposed to shocks. As a result, we have been forced into making difficult but necessary decisions to keep it operating.
“However, thanks to the hard work of our dedicated staff and partners, we have brought forward additional prison places and now introduced Operation Early Dawn to manage the pressure felt in some parts of the country.”
Operation Early Dawn, which was previously used by the former Conservative government in May amid prison overcrowding, will also allow for the holding of criminals in police cells while they await trial.
Some have warned that this measure will have a negative impact on the ability of police forces to function, including Mark Fairhurst of the Prison Officers’ Association
“It’s justice delayed at the moment, because we are now clogging up police cells, so they might have to delay some of their operations. When they arrest people, they have to make sure that they have got them a custody space because we might have prisoners filling up their cells and of course they have to pay overtime to supervise prisoners,” Fairhurst told the BBC.
“In reality, the most serious offences will end up in court; we will guarantee them a prison cell, and the lesser offences, the police will decide ‘do we hold on to them or do we bail them’,” he added.
However, Deputy Chief Constable Nev Kemp of the National Police Chiefs’ Council said: “We are working closely with criminal justice system partners to manage demand in the system and ensure that the public are safe.
“Policing will continue to arrest anyone that they need to in order to keep the public safe, including policing protests and events and ensuring that people are arrested as expected.”