PRISONERS will be held in police cells as Britain’s jails are almost out of space again.
The country’s prisons are once again close to breaking point despite thousands of lags being released early last year.
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They are running at more than 99 per cent capacity, with only 824 spaces remaining in the male adult estate.
The Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced Operation Safeguard in parliament, which means offenders can be held in police custody until prison spots become available.
It comes at a price tag of £688 per day per prisoner – five times the cost of a usual jail cell, according to the National Audit Office.
The previous Tory government triggered the measure in May 2024 and February 2023.
The measure comes just six months after the SDS40 scheme which saw scores of offenders released onto our street early in a bid to free up space.
Figures released on Monday show the prison population is at 87,556, the highest figure since the record 88,521, days before the first lags got early release.
It comes shortly before a new prison, HMP Millsike, is due to open, creating 1,500 new spaces.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said that the measure was introduced to “stop our jails from running out of cells”.
They added: “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.
“Operation Safeguard is a well-established process that will help manage temporary capacity pressures, ahead of the new 1,500 capacity HMP Millsike opening in a few weeks’ time.”
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