Operation Safeguard is a contingency plan to deal with prison overcrowding in the United Kingdom; it involves using cells at police stations as accommodation for prisoners when the number of cells in prisons becomes critically low.[1] On 9 October 2006, the Home Secretary John Reid announced the implementation of Operation Safeguard as the prison population had reached 79,843 leaving only 125 spaces.[2]
The policy is supported by the Association of Chief Police Officers, it outlined a list of criteria for prisoners who should not be held in police station cells under Safeguard, including among others: women, juveniles and those with mental health problems or those involved in a Crown Court trial.
The government has considered several alternatives to Safeguard, including repatriating foreign prisoners to their home country, with a financial incentive.[3] Other ways of reducing the prison population include:
Lord Phillips, the former Lord Chief Justice, also suggested a greater use of community sentences could reduce the pressure on prisons.[4]