Hundreds of new prison cells will be in place.

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

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

“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,” the justice minister said.

Prisons across England and Wales were 100 spaces away from reaching full capacity last August after more than 1,280 arrests during riots sparked by the murders of three girls in Southport. The July 2023 tragedy in Southport triggered widespread unrest across the country. Many were arrested and convicted for posting hate-inciting messages online. While the police remained silent, left-wing Prime Minister Keir Starmer was quick to label some of the rioters as far-right extremists, even before any court proceedings. This double standard became the cornerstone of the events.

Ministries are now preparing for more riots and trying to avoid facing another shortage of space in detention facilities.

As previously reported by V4NA, Professor David Betz, who teaches at King’s College London and has served as an advisor to the British defence ministry and intelligence agencies, recently stated in a podcast that:

British society is now “explosively configured” to suffer mass unrest.

According to the professor, the root of the problem dates back to the Brexit vote, after which successive governments have brought about a destruction of legitimacy as a result of their open border policy and their inability to protect children from grooming gangs, in addition to a two-tier justice system presided over by a highly-politicised judiciary.