Skip to main content

Emergency measures activated to ease English prisons’ overcrowding

The UK government activated emergency measures on Monday to ease overcrowding in prisons in northern England, as growing numbers of people are convicted for involvement in the riots seen earlier this month.

The decision to invoke “Operation Early Dawn”, which allows defendants to be held in police cells and not summoned to court until space in prison becomes available, follows hundreds of convictions for participating in the disorder.

That has exacerbated a capacity crisis within the prison system in England and Wales, with the new Labour government warning last month it was on the brink of “collapse” due to overcrowding.

England and Wales have the highest per capita prison population in Western Europe. The government has already announced plans to release thousands of prisoners early in September to deal with the crisis.

Operation Early Dawn will see officials across northern England make an operational assessment each morning and throughout the day over which defendants can attend court, dependent on prison capacity.

“We inherited a justice system in crisis and exposed to shocks,” prisons minister James Timpson said in a statement. “As a result, we have been forced into making difficult but necessary decisions to keep it operating.”

The justice ministry said the move will help to “manage the prison capacity pressure felt in the short-term in a small number of regions”.

Police have indicated that this will not impact officers’ ability to make arrests, the ministry added, insisting “anyone who poses a risk to the public will not be bailed”. However, representatives for workers in prisons and the court system warned that the policy would invariably impact policing and other areas of criminal justice.

“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,” Prison Officers’ Association chair Mark Fairhurst told the BBC.

Meanwhile, Tom Franklin, of the Magistrates’ Association, said “There will be a delay in some people who have been charged coming to court because the Prison Service can’t guarantee… there would be a place for them”.

The riots that recently swept England and Northern Ireland followed the stabbing to death of three girls at a dance class in Southport, northwest England.

Officials have blamed far-right agitators for fuelling the disturbances, which saw police attacked and mosques and hotels used to house asylum seekers also targeted.



from The Dawn News - Home https://ift.tt/AUZj12l
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ministers rubbish notion that proposed retirement age extension to favour ‘one particular institution’

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar on Tuesday rubbished the notion that a proposed extension in the retirement age was to favour “one particular institution”, adding that the move would be implemented across the board if approved. The rebuttal comes in the wake of media reports claiming that the government was mulling changes to the Constitution to fix the tenure of the chief justice . Currently, judges of the Supreme Court, including the chief justice, retire after attaining the age of superannuation, i.e. 65 years, as stipulated in Article 179 of the Constitution. While giving his opinion recently on the reports of the constitutional amendment, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar had said he “will not vehemently turn down the proposals related to the tenure of the chief justice”. Addressing the issue during a press conference in Islamabad today along since Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb and the law minister, Attaullah said the extension in the retirement age was “a proposal to a...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Republican primary race for president in 2024

The Republican primary race for president in 2024 is already shaping up to be a competitive one. There are a number of high-profile candidates who have already announced their intention to run, and more are expected to join the field in the coming months. The frontrunner for the nomination is former President Donald Trump. Trump has been teasing a 2024 run for months, and he has a large and loyal following among Republican voters. However, he is also a polarizing figure, and his candidacy could alienate some moderate Republicans. Another potential contender for the nomination is Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. DeSantis has been praised by many conservatives for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and his opposition to vaccine mandates. He is also seen as a rising star in the Republican Party. Other potential candidates include former Vice President Mike Pence, former Ambassador Nikki Haley, and Senator Tim Scott. Pence is a more traditional Republican who could appeal to moderate vote...
1 comment
Read more

Bangladesh appoints Mushtaq Ahmed spin bowling coach ahead of T20 World Cup

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) on Tuesday appointed former Pakistan leg-spinner and World Cup winner Mushtaq Ahmed as the Tigers’ spin bowling coach ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup 2024. “He will join the side ahead of the preparation camp later this month for the T20 series against Zimbabwe and will work with the Bangladesh team until the end of the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 in the West Indies and USA,” the BCB said in a press release issued today. Mushtaq said it was a great honour for him to be a part of the Bangladesh cricket team as a spin bowling coach. “I am looking forward to the role and want to pass my experience to the players because they are very coachable and I always believe that they are one of the most dangerous teams around,” he said. “They can beat anyone because they have the capability, the resources and the talent,” he said, adding that he would attempt to instil that belief into them and was “very excited” at the opportunity to work with them. Ahmed wa...
Post a Comment
Read more