The prison minister said it would “have no impact on the work of the police” to take such action against Britons angry that a Rwandan teenager had stabbed several British girls to death and painted the pavement red with their blood.
The British government plans to introduce emergency measures to ensure that prison overcrowding does not delay the prosecution of those arrested in recent weeks during anti-immigration protests and for sharing critical posts about the British government. “Operation Early Dawn” came into effect on Monday morning, wrote .
Prisons Minister Lord Timpson said the emergency measures would help “to deal with the pressures in some parts of the country”. More than 1,000 people have been arrested after riots broke out in England and Northern Ireland earlier this month. According to the Crown Prosecution Service, more than 470 people have been charged with various offences so far.
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In the most egregious cases, British courts have imposed prison sentences of several years even for posts shared on social media.
Wayne O’Rourke, the owner of the X-account “Sick Of It”, was sentenced to three years in prison for his posts.
A BBC analysis of prison data has shown how hard it will be for prisons to cope with a sudden influx of remand prisoners and newly convicted inmates. The current capacity of the prison system in England and Wales is 89,191 inmates. On Friday the prison population was 87,893. Under Operation Early Dawn, defendants will only be summoned to magistrates’ court if there is space for them in the prison. This means court proceedings can drag on and people will be held in police custody or released on bail while they await trial. The Ministry of Justice said the moves would not affect the police’s ability to prosecute and would not release people who posed a danger to the public.
According to the plans, a total of 5,500 prisoners are to be released from their prisons.
In addition, the minimum period a prisoner must spend in prison before being released on parole will also be reduced. In addition, the measures allow defendants awaiting their court date to be held in police cells until there are no more prison spaces available.
It is striking that this problem did not arise when African and Muslim migrants rioted in the streets a month ago. The government is only taking action against those Britons who are angry that a Rwandan teenager stabbed several British girls to death and painted the pavement red with their blood.
Featured image: MTI/EPA/Vickie Flores
