Prison crowding emergency measures a ‘sticking plaster’, Starmer told

Ministers have been warned that they have placed a “sticking plaster” over a crumbling criminal justice system after emergency measures were activated to ease prison overcrowding, as more people are sentenced for their role in the recent riots.

The longstanding measures, known as Operation Early Dawn , allow defendants to be held in police cells until prison places become available and could mean their court dates are delayed or adjourned at short notice.

The system was activated on Monday morning and means some defendants across the north of England and the Midlands waiting for court appearances will be kept in police cells until prison space is available.

As of Friday, more than 300 people have been remanded into custody for their role in the violent disorder that erupted after the Southport stabbings on 29 July, with 460 arrests. Many more are expected to be arrested and charged as police leaders have vowed to track down offenders for “as long as it takes”.

Michelle Heeley KC, a lawyer and the leader of the Midland circuit, said: “We recognise that the government is taking much-needed action, but this is just a sticking plaster for a long-term problem. Prison cells are no places for criminals to be held, even in the short term, and the wider impact on the system as other cases are potentially pushed back will only add to greater pressure on an overloaded system.”

Mark Fairhurst, the national chair of the Prison Officers’ Association, told BBC Breakfast the policy would lead to “justice delayed”. He said the most serious offenders would still end up in court and be guaranteed a prison cell, but less serious offenders would either spend longer in police cells or be bailed.

“It’s justice delayed at the moment, because we’re not clogging up police cells, so they might have to delay some of their operations,” he said.

Tom Franklin, the chief executive of the Magistrates’ Association, said: “Every case that is delayed has real-life consequences for victims, witnesses and defendants – and leads to magistrates and court staff sitting around waiting, rather than administering justice. That is a waste of resources, at a time when there are already large backlogs.”

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has had to bring forward the use of 567 new prison cells that were earmarked to open at the end of this month to cope with the extra demand. From 10 September, thousands of prisoners will

start being released 40% of the way through their sentence as part of the emergency measures announced last month. The government said that its action to “tackle violent thuggery on our streets” had “exacerbated longstanding capacity issues in our prisons”.

Related: Fears UK prisons face ‘collapse’ as they could be full before early release scheme begins

James Timpson, the prisons minister, 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.”

He said the emergency measures would help “manage the pressure felt in some parts of the country”. He added that anyone who posed a risk to the public “will not be bailed” and police’s ability to arrest criminals would not be affected.

Operation Early Dawn is a contingency measure that has been used for very short periods – usually no longer than a week at a time – to manage immediate, localised pressures on the prison estate. It steps up coordination between police stations, the Prison Service and the courts to make sure nobody is taken to the courts until a space can be guaranteed for them should they be remanded.

In May, Operation Early Dawn was triggered in London and north-east England before being rolled out across England after concerns over prison overcrowding. It meant that defendants in police custody remained there and were not transferred to magistrates courts for bail hearings in case there was no space in jail cells for those remanded into custody.

During the same month, police were instructed to consider making fewer arrests because of the lack of space in prisons.

The scheme is overseen by the MoJ and therefore could be used across England and Wales. On this occasion, the measure will be put in place in the north-east of England and Yorkshire; Cumbria and Lancashire; in the Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire regions, and the East and West Midlands.

Last month, the MoJ said violence and self-harm in prison had risen to “unacceptable” levels as overcrowding pushed jails to the “point of collapse”.

The justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, announced plans to cut the proportion of the sentence inmates must serve behind bars from 50% to 40%. The temporary move – which does not apply to those convicted of sex offences, terrorism, domestic abuse or some violent offences – is expected to result in 5,500 offenders being released in September and October.