As hundreds of prisoners are released early on to the streets of Britain, it’s vital that the authorities keep track of these criminals. Worryingly, this doesn’t seem to be happening: several recently released prisoners who have been out of jail for two to six weeks told me they have still not been tagged. It’s anyone’s guess what these people are up to – and where they are going.
Even probation officers struggle to get clear answers about whether or not tags have been fitted
A backlog in fitting tags appears to be causing this situation. But there are rumours that there is a wider shortage of tags. Whatever the reason, offenders who are supposed to be under curfew after their release are not being monitored. It seems unlikely that this situation will be fixed any time soon: neither the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) or Serco could give me a clear number for the waiting list in getting tags fitted.
‘Tagging’, or Home Detention Curfew, is designed to ensure that those who have just been released from prison don’t return to a life of crime. Prisoners serving sentences of less than four years can spend up to six months of their sentence on a curfew at home. This is enforced by them wearing an ankle bracelet, or ‘tag’, which will trigger an alert if they aren’t at home during their curfew (typically between 7pm to 7am). This tagging system is operated by ‘Electronic Monitoring Services’ (EMS), an organisation which is managed by Serco under contract from the Ministry of Justice.
After my release from prison I wore a tag for four months. The evening after I left jail, representatives of EMS came to my house, fitted the tag and set up the monitoring equipment. The system worked well: I could serve some of my sentence at home; and the authorities knew that I was keeping my end of the bargain by sticking to my curfew. That was August 2021. In just three years, the system appears to have collapsed.
Nowadays, even probation officers struggle to get clear answers about whether or not tags have been fitted. Several recently released prisoners told me that their probation officers had asked them whether they had been fitted with a tag. How are they supposed to keep tabs if they don’t know this basic information?
Serco, which took over the electronic monitoring contract in May, say they ‘have been working hard to reduce the number of people waiting to have a tag fitted’. They insist they are prioritising cases ‘based on risk profiles.’
But ‘working hard’ isn’t enough: ex-prisoners, who potentially pose a danger to the public, are not being tagged.
The MoJ told me that there are currently record numbers of offenders wearing tags. But it’s those who don’t have tags, but should, that are a cause of concern.
I understand that Shabana Mahmood, the Justice Secretary is furious about the situation, and rightly so. She needs to get a grip on this crisis – and fast. The government’s early release strategy relies on trusting probation, the police and organisations like EMS to manage offenders’ risk. We already know that probation is struggling. This problem is only going to be exacerbated if probation don’t know whether ex prisoners are being tagged promptly. Releasing people ‘on tag’ and then failing to tag them seems emblematic of a justice system which only pretends to function.
Labour might say that it didn’t create this mess, and that may well be true. But grappling with the broken justice system is now their job. If serious further offences are committed by someone who should have been tagged, then the public are unlikely to blame the Tories.
