The UK Ministry of Justice reactivated a temporary measure known as “Operation Early Dawn” on Monday to manage heightened prison overcrowding, aggravated by recent far-right riots across the country.

The HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) activated Operation Early Dawn to help alleviate pressure on prisons in regions such as North East and Yorkshire, Manchester, Cumbria etc, and would keep offenders in a police station until they are summoned to court, once a cell in prison is confirmed to be available will the offenders be called to a magistrates’ court. The operation, which will come into force in September, will not affect the police’s ability to arrest people who commit an offence or a crime, as Deputy Chief Constable Nev Kemp, National Police Chiefs’ Council Lead for Custody, assured that the government is committed to keeping the public safe.

The government further added that additional measures were introduced to remedy the prison capacity by adding hundreds of prison places and that the newly formed government is working on addressing the prison capacity problem in the UK, stressing that changes to certain prison sentences have been made, despite the difficulty of the decision.

The UK has been dealing with prison overcrowding for several years, as prisons have operated at over 99-percent capacity since the beginning of 2023. In July, the Ministry of Justice revealed that the current prison population is 87,505, while the maximum capacity is 88,956. UK Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced the Labour government’s plan in July to release prisoners and place them under community supervision to combat overcrowding in the nation’s prisons.

The reactivated Operation was necessitated by the recent rioting that took place in several cities in early August and the consequent arrest of hundreds of rioters, out of whom 159 were charged with public disorder. Justice Minister Heidi Alexander announced that the government is expediting the process of adding 500 more prison places to accommodate individuals involved in the violent protests.

Operation Early Dawn was introduced on May 15 as an emergency measure to address the rising prison population issue, however, lawyers criticised the measure highlighting that it could intensify the cases backlog at the criminal courts. The UK Bar Council called for an inquiry into the backlog in June, calling for a Royal Commission system review.