Police can’t arrest criminals if the jails are full of rioters, says prison officers’ union boss

Operation Early Dawn, which stops suspects being moved to court, will be triggered this week, Mark Fairhurst, the POA chairman, predicts

Police will be unable to make arrests if prisons are full up with rioters, it has been suggested.
The Prison Officers’ Association (POA) predicts that ministers will be forced to impose new bottlenecks within days to avoid prisons filling up.
That would require triggering Operation Early Dawn, which prevents inmates being taken from police cells to court unless a prison space is available for them.
Mark Fairhurst, the national chairman of the POA, predicted an announcement could come as early as Monday morning.
However, Mr Fairhurst warned such a move would put increased pressure on police forces and compel officers to limit the number of arrests they make in order to free up cell space.
“Last week we had the biggest influx of new receptions I’ve seen for quite some time. We had 397 new receptions. As of Friday we only had 340 spaces left in the adult closed male estate which is feeling the most pressure.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if at some point tomorrow morning the Ministry of Justice would announce that Operation Early Dawn kicks into play at some point next week, probably Tuesday onwards,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Broadcasting House programme on Sunday.
“You’re now clogging up police cells, so they haven’t got the power to arrest people and put them away in a police cell. It has a massive knock-on effect on the entire criminal justice system.”
More than 1,000 people have been arrested so far for their part in the recent riots which gripped towns and cities in England and Northern Ireland.
Some 480 have been charged and at least 99 sentences handed down as cases continue to be brought to court.
Around 90 adults have been sentenced. Of these, eight have received custodial sentences of three years or more, while three-quarters of them have got more than a year of jail time.
The severity of sentences ranges from community orders and fines at the lower end, to the longest term so far of six years, handed to David Wilkinson, 48, for his role in the Hull disorder.
Wilkinson was a prominent member of the “baying mob” which forced three terrified Romanian men from their car.
John Honey, who was part of the mob and also looted shops including a Lush cosmetic store, received a sentence of four years and eight months.
Hull Crown Court heard how Honey pulled the passenger door open as the man inside tried to close it to protect himself, while Wilkinson was seen attacking the windscreen of the car, which was left with damage worth £1,500.
The men, in fear of their lives, eventually left the car with their hands raised, before fleeing to a nearby hotel, the court was told.
Mr Fairhurst described the pressure on the prison system as “really, really tight,” warning that offenders in the most pressured regions would face sentences far from home.
“The pinch points at the moment are the North East and the North West, so it’s likely that if you commit an offence in those areas you will be carted 100, 200 miles away from home to serve your sentence because there’s simply very few spaces,” he said.
Operation Early Dawn has not yet been triggered. The public would be informed if it had, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) previously said. The MoJ was approached for comment.