Plan to put prisoners in court cells

Plan to put prisoners in court cells

Bid to ease jail overcrowding is 'cynical ploy' to protect PM, say Tories

Jamie Doward, home affairs editor
Sunday October 14, 2007
The Observer

The ministry of Justice has drawn up emergency plans to house prisoners in court cells in what the Conservatives last night claimed was 'a cynical attempt' to manage the jails crisis and buy Gordon Brown more time after a week of bad news.

The plan comes as the prison population touched 81,345 on Friday, above the 81,040 level at which the government was forced to release prisoners early in the summer.

There is now pressure on the Ministry of Justice to expand the use of the early release scheme which has seen thousands of prisoners leave jail 18 days early.

With options becoming limited, the ministry has again been forced to activate plans to turn court cells into makeshift prisons.

A private memo to prison governors last week said senior prison staff would be needed to oversee the use of cells at Highbury magistrates court. It also said it was studying plans to use cells in five other courts.

'We look at all options to manage the prison population and ensure the public is protected,' a Ministry of Justice spokesman said.

Conservative Shadow Justice Secretary Nick Herbert said: 'This cynical attempt at damage limitation will do nothing to solve the long-term crisis of prison overcrowding. The only reason the government is using unsuitable court cells to hold prisoners is because Gordon Brown doesn't want more bad press by extending the failed early release scheme. The irony is that he'll probably have to extend it anyway before long.'

Holding prisoners in police cells costs the taxpayer tens of millions each year. Currently, there are 268 prisoners in such cells.

Prison reform campaigners expressed dismay at the plan. 'One of the worst things that could happen to our overcrowded prison system would be to become the arena for party political jousting,' said Juliet Lyon, Director of the Prison Reform Trust. Last week's Comprehensive Spending Review confirmed the Ministry of Justice must save £1bn by 2011. The prison estate is already being asked to make cuts of £60m a year while finding another 9,000 prison places.

One plan, revealed by The Observer earlier this year, is to use 'pre-fabricated' prison cells made out of sea containers which can be slotted in to the existing prison estate.

Concerns have also spread to young offenders institutions. Tomorrow, the Howard League for Penal Reform will publish figures which reveal more than 18,000 assaults took place in them between 2003 and 2006. 'Small wonder children come out of custody brutalised, with reconviction rates within a year of almost 70 per cent,' said Frances Crook, director of the League.