£2m cost of keeping prisoners in police cells

More than £2 million was spent housing prisoners in police cells across Greater Manchester last year as the prison population continued to spiral.

The Ministry of Justice says it costs £385 a night to detain an inmate in a police station when prisons are full — compared with an estimated £100 a night for the average prison place.

Figures released to Parliament show £2,009,000 was spent across the region last year.

Greater Manchester Police can get the money back from Government and do not have to pay for it out of their budget.

Insp Mike Schofield said: “Operation Safeguard is aimed at supporting the Prison Service by giving short-term accommodation to prisoners.

“All costs for this operation are being met by the Home Office. This operation in no way affects GMP’s normal day-to-day policing.”

But the Liberal Democrats, who uncovered the figures said taxpayers‚ were suffering because of Government’s inability to deal with the prison population.

Justice spokesman Paul Holmes said: “For this amount of money, you could stay in the Ritz.

"The Government’s incompetence in managing our prison system is staggering and has left the taxpayer picking up a huge bill.

“Ministers have severely and consistently underestimated the knock-on costs of prison overcrowding.

“The Government has put us in this hopeless position by failing to plan for the future while putting record numbers behind bars in an effort to appear tough on crime.”

Nationally £49.9 million was spent under the scheme which was reintroduced in 2006 to deal with the growing prison overcrowding crisis.

The total number of prison places available across England and Wales is 81,972, with a further 400 cells available in police stations.

Last month Government shelved plans for a £1.2 billion Titan prison programme that would have created three 2,500-place jails. Instead five smaller prisons will be built, each housing 1,500 inmates.

Justice Minister David Hanson said: “Prison is the right place for the most dangerous, serious and persistent offenders.

“We are committed to making sure we have enough prison places to cater for those offenders who need to be imprisoned.”