Emergency Measure to Avoid Prison Overcrowding Activated

An emergency measure to avoid prison overcrowding has been activated in the north of England following the large number of people charged and custodial sentences handed down in connection with rioting earlier this month. Operation Early Dawn, a long-standing plan which allows defendants to be held in police cells and not summoned to magistrates’ court until a space in prison is available, was activated on Monday morning, the Ministry of Justice announced. It is designed as a short-term plan for when prisons are in danger of being at full capacity and there is a risk of defendants being remanded into custody after they enter a plea....