Far-right rioters: An emergency plan for British prisons

Right-wing extremist riots in Great Britain are becoming a problem for prisons: there isn’t enough room for all the arrested rioters. A contingency plan should help.

Britain’s prisons are reaching their limits: recent right-wing extremist riots have led to many arrests. So the British government started an emergency plan. “Operation Early Dawn” was intended to relieve overcrowding in prisons.

The plan states that the accused will be allowed to remain in police custody for a longer period of time. They are usually brought immediately to a local court, where a judge orders pretrial detention. Where Operation Early Dawn comes into effect, those arrested can now remain in police cells until a place in jail is available.

Free prison places are dwindling

Mark Fairhust, president of the Prison Officers’ Association, told the BBC there were 397 new recruits last week. There are only 340 seats available in the men’s section, which closed on Friday.

There have been violent riots and attacks on police officers in several British cities across the country for several days. Police arrested more than 1,000 people, according to the dpa news agency. The government announced that the new measure would first come into force in parts of northern England.

A stabbing at Taylor Swift’s dance class in Southport has sparked riots. Three girls were killed and several children were injured. A rumor spread on social media that the culprit was a Muslim immigrant. In fact, the suspected 17-year-old was born in Great Britain to Rwandan parents.

Criminals should be released early

The emergency plan was already initiated by the previous government. The current Social Democratic government also blamed its conservative predecessors for the poor conditions in prisons. “We inherited a justice system in crisis and shock,” said Secretary of State James Timpson. “So we were forced to make difficult but necessary decisions to keep it going.”

To ease pressure on overcrowded prisons, the government announced that some prisoners would be released after serving 40 percent of their sentences. 50 percent is the norm. Interim restraint does not apply to offenders in prison for terrorism, sex crimes, domestic violence or serious violence.