Emergency measures introduced: They remain in police stations

The measures allow defendants to be held in police cells until a place is found for them in prison.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer's government said the recent arrest of more than 1,100 people suspected of racist violence targeting migrants and Muslims has exacerbated a prison capacity crisis, Reuters reports.

The new, temporary measure means that suspects will only be summoned to court once it is confirmed that a cell is available for them in one of more than 100 prisons across the country, and until then they will be held in a police station.

Britain has the highest incarceration rate in Western Europe, and the number of prisoners has risen sharply since the coronavirus pandemic due to longer sentences, delayed trials, and a requirement that serious offenders serve at least 65 percent of their sentences behind bars.

Under plans announced by Starmer last month, most prisoners will be eligible for release after serving 40 percent of their sentences.

The measures that came into force today are expected to be aimed at reducing prison capacity in the north of England, where riots recently broke out following misinformation that the suspect in the July 29 murder of three girls in Southport was a migrant.