EMERGENCY plans to avoid prison overcrowding were activated in the north of England today as more far-right rioters were being sentenced for their part in last month’s racist attacks.
Operation Early Dawn is a long-standing plan which allows defendants to be held in police cells and not summoned to a magistrates’ court until a space in prison is available.
The measure is placed in north-east England and Yorkshire, Cumbria and Lancashire, Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire regions.
Our members face serious violence, crumbling workplaces and exposure to dangerous drugs — it is outrageous we still cannot legally use our industrial muscle to fight back and defend ourselves, writes STEVE GILLAN
MARK FAIRHURST highlights the main issues facing officers in a long neglected service, and raised by front-line delegates at POA conference last week, including understaffing, violence, bullying and the ongoing denial of workers’ right to strike
Working in a high-risk sector, prison officers’ calls for proper PPE must be heeded – and the POA will be fighting to ensure effective protection at work is delivered, writes MARK FAIRHURST
