Around 14,000 prisoners are currently on remand, according to new figures (Picture: Getty)
Prisoners could be held in police cells in a bid to reduce ‘acute and sudden’ overcrowding in jails.
The Ministry of Justice is requesting the emergency use of 400 police cells after running out of prison places.
The government is blaming the barristers’ strike for pushing up the number of remand prisoners, which is currently at about 14,000.
Justice minister Damian Hinds told MPs that the Government has asked to use the cells after a sudden increase in the prison population over the last few months.
In a statement in the Commons on Wednesday, he said: ‘In recent months we have experienced an acute and sudden increase in the prison population, in part due to the aftermath of the Criminal Bar Association strike action over the summer which led to a significantly higher number of offenders on remand.
‘With court hearings resuming, we are seeing a surge in offenders coming through the criminal justice system, placing capacity pressure on adult male prisons in particular.’
He added: ‘I’m announcing today that we’ve written to the National Police Chiefs Council to request the temporary use of up to 400 police cells through an established protocol known as Operation Safeguard.’
Around 400 police cells are set to be borrowed by the Government after running out of space for prisoners in jails (Picture: Getty)
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Overcrowding in the prison system is ‘more evidence that we can no longer afford the cost of the Conservatives’.
Shadow justice minister Ellie Reeves told the Commons: ‘This is yet another crisis created by this shambolic Tory Government. It is hard to think of a more damning indictment of this Government’s failure on law and order than the fact they have now run out of cells to lock up criminals.
‘But it is hardly surprising when under the Tories 10,000 prison places have been lost.
‘Not only this, 663 police stations have closed, so who knows how long it will be until this contingency plan will need a contingency plan all of its own?
‘While we find ourselves in a satiation with not enough cells, in response to a recent parliamentary question we discovered that over the last five years the Tories have spent over £1 million on maintaining closed prisons.
‘Just more evidence that we can no longer afford the cost of the Conservatives.’
The surge in prison overcrowding is the ‘first time ever’ such a rapid increase has happened, a minister said.
Responding to Labour, Justice minister Damian Hinds told the Commons: ‘At no point in the last five years have we had fewer than a thousands cells available across the entire prison estate.
‘We have not run out of prison places and this does not reflect a failure to plan ahead. We have absolutely been planning ahead, we have stuck to our expansion programme and indeed brought forward capital works.
‘But there has also been this highly unusual acute short-term surge, increases of over 700, and then over 800 in the last two months. It is the first time ever we have seen that sort of increase for two consecutive months.
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‘There are a number of capacity increase options that we have but they are just not possible, they are not available in that short timeframe.’
Mr Hinds said the overcrowding was ‘specific to the adult male estate’, adding: ‘There is ample capacity in the women’s and the youth estates.’
Conservative chairman of the Justice Committee Sir Bob Neill said prison numbers ‘have risen exponentially’.
He said: ‘It’s not the first time it’s had to be done, but will he recognise that there are two factors that are in play here.
‘One has been the underlying upward trend in prison numbers over the last couple of decades or so. Prison numbers have risen exponentially and maybe there’s a case for us looking again at whether it is appropriate to be holding non violent offenders in custody, as opposed to the dangerous people who we do need to lock up?’
Justice minister Damian Hinds replied: ‘He’s right that the prison population has been growing, it’s not at its highest ever, but it has been growing of late. Part of that is because of tougher sentences for the worst offences and I think that is absolutely right and it’s what the public expect and want.
‘It’s also true there are alternatives to the custodial sentences for other types of crime which can be better, on occasion and with certain individuals, getting people back on the straight and narrow and it’s very important that we fully utilise those things.’
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It comes after the number of remand prisoners is up to 14,000.
