Prisoners will be held in police stations because jails are nearly full with 83,000 lags in England and Wales
HUNDREDS of prisoners will be held in police stations because crisis-hit jails are nearly full.
Taxpayers face forking out millions to house them — with each police cell costing at least £450 a night.
The scale of the scandal was laid bare yesterday as Prisons minister Damian Hinds told the Commons he had triggered Operation Safeguard.
It puts police chiefs on notice to let prisons use local nicks to house lags.
The cost of a cop cell under Operation Safeguard was £450 last time it was triggered in 2007.
Prison chiefs are likely to demand the use of around 400 cells at first — but more could yet be needed.
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Last week, there were 82,839 inmates jailed in England and Wales.
But the total number is understood to have now topped 83,000 — meaning there are now less than 1,000 prison cells available.
Around 1,500 extra cons were banged up in the past two months, with the crisis at its worst in the North of England.
Sources last night insisted murderers and rapists would still be in top-security cells.
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And those with mental or physical illnesses will also be given priority.
Those in police cells are likely to be there a maximum of 24 hours.
Sources say the crisis has been caused by a huge backlog in the court system.
During the long- running barristers’ strike, remand prisoners alone soared by 1,700.
The number of cons recalled to jail has also risen.
And an increase in police officers has seen more arrests — and so more people going to prison.
Justice chiefs have committed to creating 20,000 new prison places, with 3,100 so far.
A further 1,700 will come when HMP Fosse Way, in Leics, opens next spring.
Shadow Justice Secretary Steve Reed blasted: “Conservatives cut more than 10,000 prison places since 2010.
“Our country needs a government that is serious about protecting victims of crime.”
The Ministry of Justice said last night: “We are experiencing an unprecedented increase in the number of offenders coming into prisons in the North of England, partly as a result of the impact of the pandemic and the barrister strike action over the summer months.”