Prison cells are now being rationed

The announcement from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is couched in bureaucratic language, but there is no disguising it. ‘Process activated to manage prisoner movements’, said the headline on the department’s website, making it sound like a few minor procedural rules have been adjusted to help the transfer of inmates. In fact, the ‘process’ is an emergency measure to stop people being sent to prisons which are full. 

The areas worst affected – or as the MoJ puts it those with ‘capacity concerns’ – are men’s jails in the north of England. There, prison cells will, in effect, be rationed. Suspects who were due to be taken to court for a hearing which might have resulted in them being remanded in custody will instead be held for longer in a police cell until a prison place becomes available. In some cases, hearings will be delayed and alleged criminals released on police bail.