Emergency plans to avoid prison overcrowding have been activated in the North of England as more rioters are sentenced.Operation Early Dawn, a long-standing plan which allows defendants to be held in police cells and not summoned to magistrates' court until a space in prison is available, was activated on Monday morning, the Ministry of Justice said.

Emergency plans to avoid prison overcrowding have been activated in the North of England as more rioters are sentenced.Operation Early Dawn, a long-standing plan which allows defendants to be held in police cells and not summoned to magistrates' court until a space in prison is available, was activated on Monday morning, the Ministry of Justice said.