Prisons to get hundreds more cells in case summer riots happen again

Exclusive Minister tells of plan to avoid needing 'emergency measures'

- Rajeev Syal

Prisons are being prepared to cope with a sudden influx of offenders in case there is a repeat of last summer's riots, the prisons minister, James Timpson, has told the Guardian.

Hundreds of extra makeshift and newly refurbished cells will be in use by the end of this year, officials have disclosed, as the prisons minister said there would be "no more emergency measures" such as early release schemes.

"We need to be prepared for the capacity that would be needed if we had the riots, the civil disobedience, [we saw] in the summer. We're clear there are no more emergency measures to do. We just need to make sure we use all of the operational levers we have," he said.

Prisons in England and Wales were 100 spaces away from maximum capacity last August after more than 1,280 arrests during riots sparked by misinformation about the murders of three girls in Southport.

The "operational levers" being pulled by ministers this year to try to avoid a repeat scenario include hundreds of "rapid deployment cells" - makeshift secure rooms to be set up in the grounds of existing prisons. Another 350 cells that have been in a state of disrepair were being fixed for use, sources said.

Ministers were forced to introduce emergency measures to hold those arrested, charged and convicted last summer. It is understood that the Ministry of Justice's latest preparations are not a result of any specific intelligence warning of riots.

The riots took place between 30 July and 7 August following false claims circulated by far-right activists that the perpetrator of the Southport attack was a Muslim and an asylum seeker.