The Ministry of Justice has announced that rapists and child sex offenders will face round-the-clock real-time tagging after serving their full prison term in the biggest ever expansion of electronic monitoring.
Released sex offenders will be monitored by GPS, which pins down their precise location, for at least a year after their release. This follows Andy Burnham's announcement that rapists and those guilty of child sex and grooming crimes will not be included in the controversial prisoner early release scheme. This means they will not come out of prison a moment before they were due to.
A new £700 million package will use new tracking technology to monitor released sex offenders' movements. It means police and probation will be able to act faster if they breach licence conditions.
Biggest expansion in British history
Justice Secretary Alex Norris said: “Dangerous offenders should be under no illusion – if they break the rules we will know about it and put them behind bars.
“That’s why I’m launching the biggest expansion of tagging in British history, putting more criminals than ever under constant surveillance.
“And we’re backing our probation officers with new tech to act fast when offenders step out of line. That means tough punishment in the community, victims put front and centre and a probation service focused on what matters most – keeping the public safe.”
New technology in place
Up to this point probation staff have had to request location information from the electronic monitoring provider. The new system means officers can access pinpoint location data within minutes. It is already in place in London and is set to be rolled out nationally by the end of the year, the Ministry of Justice said. Former prisoners will also be sent notifications on their phones if they are close to an area they are not allowed to go to, warning them to turn back.
Senior probation officer Amy Hughes said: “This is a real game changer for us. Previously, if we needed to check where someone had been, getting that information could take time. Now we can get a much clearer picture of their movements quickly and easily.
“It makes the day-to-day job simpler, but more importantly it gives you greater confidence that you can spot when something isn’t right. If someone’s behaviour is changing or their risk looks like it might be escalating, having that information at your fingertips helps you join the dots much sooner and take action before things potentially become more serious.”
Probation recruitment and context
The government is currently recruiting an additional 1,300 probation officers, on top of 2,300 brought into the service over the past two years.
It comes after a backlash over measures that will see around 5,000 prisoners released early from next month. Labour passed legislation to ease the prison crisis after years of Tory failure, which saw a shortage of spaces mean there were less than 100 places to send criminals to in summer 2024.
Mr Burnham ordered a review when he became PM, and announced that sex offenders and child groomers, who had been set to be included in the early release scheme, would no longer qualify. He has said he wants to go further following an outcry over the expected release of two of PC Andrew Harper's killers. The Prime Minister has ordered Mr Norris to draw up water-tight measures to keep them behind bars by the time Parliament returns at the start of September.
Currently those guilty of manslaughter are still eligible for early release. Under the Sentencing Act, which became law earlier this year, prisoners serving time for some violent or sexual offences were set to become eligible for release halfway through their sentences, rather than serving the current tariff of two-thirds. Criminals including burglars and thieves are among prisoners who will be considered for release a third of the way through their sentences, down from the current 40%.
