SUSPECTED criminals set to be kept in custody until their court date could be released on bail instead to ease jail overcrowding.
Ministers yesterday triggered emergency measures delaying cases for some suspects.
It means they may have to be released on bail, rather than sent to a remand cell until their trial.
But it is not clear how many will be freed under Operation Early Dawn, expected to remain in place for at least a week.
The countrywide measures are understood to have only been used so far in London and the North East.
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Last week prison capacity was at 98.6 per cent, with 1,238 cells free.
Meanwhile a scheme allowing some lags to be released early has been extended.
In October prisons were told low-level offenders could be freed 18 days early with strict supervision.
That was increased to 60 days in March and will move to 70 days from next week.
Yesterday PM Rishi Sunak told MPs no one deemed a threat to public safety would be eligible.
But Labour’s Sir Keir Starmer pointed to a report of a high-risk con being freed from HMP Lewes, East Sussex.
