FOUR chief constables have been told to be ready to hold prisoners in police cells as jails in England and Wales head towards full capacity.

The emergency preparations were made after the jail population reached an historic high of 74,012.

Phil Wheatley, the Director-General of the Prison Service, has requested help from the chief constables of the West Midlands, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire and Nottinghamshire forces.

Mr Wheatley told them last month that he was bringing into force Operation Safeguard, the scheme under which prisoners can be held in police cells, and that they should be ready to hold prisoners in cells in police stations throughout their force areas.

The Metropolitan Police is understood to have given a warning that it would have great difficulty in holding prisoners as it has hardly enough cell space to hold suspects.

During the past few weeks inmates in some areas have been held in police cells occasionally because they have arrived at prisons after gates have been locked for the night.

Prison numbers to be published today are expected to show a small decline from the record high, but the Prison Service’s monthly population figures show that 85 of the 138 jails in England and Wales are overcrowded. Eleven jails now hold more than 1,000 inmates, with Wandsworth in southwest London holding the highest number at 1,464, followed by Liverpool with 1,437, Leeds 1,252 and Manchester 1,245.

More than a year ago the Prison Service had to start using police cells to house inmates after overcrowding and population pressure overwhelmed the system. At that stage the prison population had hit 71,480, and 1,000 police cells were earmarked for possible use. After a few weeks they were able to end the practice.

Since Labour came to power the jail population has risen by 13,000 and is projected to reach 91,200 by 2006. The Prison Service has been given funding to increase capacity to 77,500 by 2006 and ministers have been unable to explain how the gap will be filled.

The service is building only two jails, at Ashford in West London and Peterborough, but it has earmarked sites in Woolwich, southeast London, and at Maghull, Merseyside.

In 1995 police cells were used on a regular basis to hold prisoners. It cost the Prison Service £16 million, with costs ranging from £89 a day in a Surrey police station to £561 a day in Hertfordshire.

Claire McCarthy, the policy co-ordinator with the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “Police cells are expensive and unsafe. We are at crisis point, with the population pressure in our jails leading to rising numbers of suicides and incidents of indiscipline.”

But senior Prison Service staff argue that the current population levels are below official projections and hope that this indicates that the inexorable rise in jail numbers may be slowing or about to turn.

Only days after Mr Wheatley wrote to chief constables, his predecessor as director-general urged the courts to make greater use of non- custodial penalties.

Martin Narey said that criminals sent to jail for six months or less were more likely to commit crime on their release than when they went in.

Mr Narey, Commissioner for Correctional Services, said: “Nobody sent to prison for a short sentence can benefit from that experience. Somebody sent to prison for just a few weeks can’t be educated, can’t get any qualifications and can’t be moved through a drug treatment programme.”

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