Another offender released last week said: “I have to stay indoors till I get fitted, which means I can’t leave and it’s doing my head in – but I don’t want to get recalled into jail, so I’d rather do that but it would be easier if I was tagged. It’s a disgrace.”
Three probation officers spoke to BBC News on condition of anonymity.
One, who said they believed the issue was down to a shortage of tags, said: “We’re hearing the same story from several staff saying that people haven’t been tagged yet and it’s going to cause problems.
“Seems like people were released without the conditions on which they were released on being properly ready, and that could potentially be dangerous.”
Tagging or Home Detention Curfew (HDC) is a scheme which allows some people to be released early from custody if they have a suitable address to go to.
If someone is released on HDC, they have rules to follow about where they can go and what time they have to be back at home.
It allows the authorities to monitor the movements of an offender to disuade them from reoffending.
According to Martin Jones, the chief inspector of probation, about a third of those released early last week are expected to reoffend.
The tagging system is operated by Electronic Monitoring Services (EMS), an organisation which is managed by Serco under a contract with the MoJ.
Source:
www.bbc.com
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