We have been informed this evening that the Lord Chancellor is triggering an emergency measure, Operation Early Dawn, to deal with the worsening problem of the prison population. Details are somewhat lacking but it appears to be an extension of early release and other measures, but there is a particular measure affecting Magistrates’ courts in England (but not Wales at the moment).
From tomorrow (Wednesday 15th May) many Magistrates Court cases will be delayed, the cause being a triage process for defendants being transferred from police custody suites to the Magistrates’ Courts and then likely to be transferred to prison. We understand SERCO will do the triage and priority will be given to defendants in the most serious cases.
The Ministry of Justice confirmed that defendants who are not prioritised will be released on police bail. The Ministry of Justice also said that it is expected to have some impact on defendants already on police bail, but cannot say to what degree.
Regrettably practitioners will not know if their clients’ cases will be effected and delayed for sure until they arrive.
We are awaiting further information regarding legal aid and wasted costs.
Details are at this stage lacking and we do not have specific details on which courts other than it is an England-wide policy. We must therefore assume it will have an impact of every Magistrates’ Court in England. Although similar policies have been used regionally before to our knowledge this is the first time it has been deployed on such a wide basis.
Members may wish to await confirmation their client will be in court before attending where possible to avoid wasted trips and extended waiting at court at a time when the criminal legal aid sector lacks the capacity to deal with increased volumes of work as a result of decades of underfunding.
We are appalled of the state of our Criminal Justice System and have been campaigning on this from our inception and whilst we recognise the need for some action, this is a symptom of a systemic problem caused by more than 40 years of neglect of our Criminal Justice System.
We remain deeply concerned about the future, or lack thereof, for the legal aid sector and call on the government to not only deliver in full on the recommendations of the Criminal Legal Aid Independent Review, but go further and invest much needed resources not only into Legal Aid but the wider CJS as a matter of urgency to save our once world-leading Criminal Justice System.