PA MediaBy Chris Mason & Jennifer McKiernanPolitics team, BBC NewsSome court appearances will be delayed as part of an emergency measure because of prison overcrowding.The aim is to better manage the flow of cases through magistrates’ courts, the custody service and prisons in England.Magistrates’ courts in areas with a lack of prison places will be affected for around a week, as officials decide which defendants would be prioritised.Labour’s Shabana Mahmood criticised the measures, saying the public would be “alarmed”.The move is called Operation Early Dawn and began on Wednesday morning.Separately, about 400 police cells are available for prison overflow as part of Operation Safeguarding, with about 200 police cells currently in use.In addition from next week, some prisoners will be released 70 days earlier than originally planned. This is going up from 35 days, having previously been 18 days.Ministers accused of cover up on early releasePrisoners could be released up to 70 days earlyWandsworth Prison needs urgent improvement – reportThe operation means some defendants may have to remain in a police cell for extra nights before there is capacity to take them to a magistrates’ court, and then on to an available prison cell.A Ministry of Justice spokesman admitted magistrates and police were notified late last night due to extreme pressure on the prison system, although he said there was a lot of movement in and out of prisons.When asked whether any defendants would be bailed as a result, he said that would be a police decision based on risk.He told the BBC: “To manage this demand we have brought on thousands of extra places at pace and will introduce strategic oversight of the transfer of remanded offenders from police custody to magistrate courts to maintain the running of the justice system.”This government is categorical that dangerous offenders should stay behind bars, which is why new laws will keep rapists locked up for every day of their prison sentence and ensure life means life for the most horrific murderers.”Labour’s shadow justice secretary Ms Mahmood criticised the government for making “major and unprecedented changes to the justice system without so much as a word to the public” only days after she accused them of trying to hide a decision on earlier release of prisoners.”The government is stalling justice and leaving victims in limbo because of the mess they have created,” she said. “It is astonishing that lawyers and witnesses, let alone the public, are none the wiser on which cases will actually be affected – how many people will be let out on bail when they should have been remanded, and how will the government ensure public safety is not compromised?”Case backlogTom Franklin, chief executive of the Magistrates’ Association, said they were “very concerned about these further delays”.He said: “Every case that is delayed has real-life consequences for victims, witnesses and defendants – and leads to magistrates and court staff sitting around waiting, rather than administering justice. “That is a waste of resources, at a time when there are already large backlogs.”Law Society of England and Wales president Nick Emmerson said they had asked the Ministry of Justice for more information “to understand the full implications of this emergency measure”.”Victims, witnesses, defendants and lawyers will today turn up at magistrates’ courts across England only to find out that their cases have been delayed due to a crisis in prison and police cell capacity outside of their control,” he said. “As of now, we understand that this pattern will be repeated every day that this emergency measure is in place.”What is crystal clear is the prison spaces crisis is a consequence of the government’s approach to justice including over a decade of underfunding of our criminal justice system, which also sees chronic shortages of judges and lawyers, huge backlogs of cases and crumbling courts.”Government officials say the pandemic is partly to blame, because it led to an increase in the number of people being held in prisons for longer, awaiting jury trial.On Tuesday, Justice Secretary Alex Chalk told MPs there were currently nearly 16,000 …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnPA MediaBy Chris Mason & Jennifer McKiernanPolitics team, BBC NewsSome court appearances will be delayed as part of an emergency measure because of prison overcrowding.The aim is to better manage the flow of cases through magistrates’ courts, the custody service and prisons in England.Magistrates’ courts in areas with a lack of prison places will be affected for around a week, as officials decide which defendants would be prioritised.Labour’s Shabana Mahmood criticised the measures, saying the public would be “alarmed”.The move is called Operation Early Dawn and began on Wednesday morning.Separately, about 400 police cells are available for prison overflow as part of Operation Safeguarding, with about 200 police cells currently in use.In addition from next week, some prisoners will be released 70 days earlier than originally planned. This is going up from 35 days, having previously been 18 days.Ministers accused of cover up on early releasePrisoners could be released up to 70 days earlyWandsworth Prison needs urgent improvement – reportThe operation means some defendants may have to remain in a police cell for extra nights before there is capacity to take them to a magistrates’ court, and then on to an available prison cell.A Ministry of Justice spokesman admitted magistrates and police were notified late last night due to extreme pressure on the prison system, although he said there was a lot of movement in and out of prisons.When asked whether any defendants would be bailed as a result, he said that would be a police decision based on risk.He told the BBC: “To manage this demand we have brought on thousands of extra places at pace and will introduce strategic oversight of the transfer of remanded offenders from police custody to magistrate courts to maintain the running of the justice system.”This government is categorical that dangerous offenders should stay behind bars, which is why new laws will keep rapists locked up for every day of their prison sentence and ensure life means life for the most horrific murderers.”Labour’s shadow justice secretary Ms Mahmood criticised the government for making “major and unprecedented changes to the justice system without so much as a word to the public” only days after she accused them of trying to hide a decision on earlier release of prisoners.”The government is stalling justice and leaving victims in limbo because of the mess they have created,” she said. “It is astonishing that lawyers and witnesses, let alone the public, are none the wiser on which cases will actually be affected – how many people will be let out on bail when they should have been remanded, and how will the government ensure public safety is not compromised?”Case backlogTom Franklin, chief executive of the Magistrates’ Association, said they were “very concerned about these further delays”.He said: “Every case that is delayed has real-life consequences for victims, witnesses and defendants – and leads to magistrates and court staff sitting around waiting, rather than administering justice. “That is a waste of resources, at a time when there are already large backlogs.”Law Society of England and Wales president Nick Emmerson said they had asked the Ministry of Justice for more information “to understand the full implications of this emergency measure”.”Victims, witnesses, defendants and lawyers will today turn up at magistrates’ courts across England only to find out that their cases have been delayed due to a crisis in prison and police cell capacity outside of their control,” he said. “As of now, we understand that this pattern will be repeated every day that this emergency measure is in place.”What is crystal clear is the prison spaces crisis is a consequence of the government’s approach to justice including over a decade of underfunding of our criminal justice system, which also sees chronic shortages of judges and lawyers, huge backlogs of cases and crumbling courts.”Government officials say the pandemic is partly to blame, because it led to an increase in the number of people being held in prisons for longer, awaiting jury trial.On Tuesday, Justice Secretary Alex Chalk told MPs there were currently nearly 16,000 …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
