Written Question·Ministry of Justice·UIN 43038
Prisons: Overcrowding
Tabled: 1 April 2025
Answered: 9 April 2025
Question
Damian Hinds
Conservative — East Hampshire
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of capacity made available through Operation Safeguard was used between its inception and July 2024.
Answer
Sir Nicholas DakinOperation Safeguard is an important contingency measure used to ensure that the current demand on prison places does not cause undue disruption to Criminal Justice System partners. The first places were activated by the previous Government in February 2023.
Between 20 February 2023 – 4 July 2024, 86,561 Operation Safeguard police cells were made available overnight.
Partner sites