Ministers have triggered Operation Early Dawn, an emergency scheme designed to ease the prisons overcrowding crisis. Here we explain exactly what the measures mean.
Operation Early Dawn, a long-standing contingency measure is used when prisons do not have enough space on a particular day. When triggered, it delays defendants being summoned to a magistrates’ court until a prison space becomes available.
The Prisons Service, courts and police in each region will assess which defendants can be transferred from police cells to courts to ensure there is a space for them if they were to be remanded in custody following their first appearance at the magistrates court. It is designed to avoid the chaotic situation whereby judges order defendants to be remanded in custody but there
