Last month we reported how families of Wandsworth prisoners described sudden, chaotic transfers after more than 500 people were arrested during the Palestine Action protest in Parliament Square. Some relatives said inmates had “vanished” without warning, with rumours of moves to prisons as far away as Norwich.
A Freedom of Information response [pdf] from the Ministry of Justice now puts official numbers far lower. Between 8 and 18 August, just 11 prisoners were transferred out of Wandsworth under “capacity gold command” – all to nearby Brixton and Feltham. None had returned to Wandsworth during that period.
“Capacity gold command” is an emergency protocol activated by the UK prison service when jails reach critically high occupancy levels, allowing a designated “gold commander” to override local prison decisions and centrally manage the entire prison estate.
Under this system, the commander can monitor every available cell across all facilities, direct prisoner transfers between institutions, and maximize the use of alternatives like open prisons and home detention curfews to free up space, even if it means moving inmates long distances from their home areas.
The MoJ explained that weekend transfers are used to ease Monday reception bottlenecks, but did not comment on whether further transfers have taken place since.
The contrast between official figures and families’ experiences who reported that their family members had been moved hundreds of miles away without warning highlights the lack of transparency around emergency prison moves.
We are continuing to seek clarity on whether larger-scale transfers followed in the weeks after the arrests, or earlier to the dates we requested data on (8-18 August). We are also looking at whether moves were booked under a different protocol name.
