Hundreds of prisoners released early across England and Wales, including stalkers and violent offenders, are not being tagged by Serco, MPs have reported. This situation arises despite promises of the "toughest supervision in British history" as the government begins to release a second tranche of 650 offenders to alleviate the prison overcrowding crisis.
Context
During an urgent question in the Commons on Tuesday, Labour MP Clive Efford raised concerns about Serco's failure to provide enough tags for prisoners upon their release. He stated, "They are not actually fulfilling their contracts. It can’t be beyond the tech firm’s ability to tag people on release. So what are these companies going to do about it?"
Nick Timothy, the shadow justice secretary, echoed these concerns, noting that most prisoners were not being tagged before release, despite government assurances. He criticized the justice secretary's claims about the tagging system, calling it "nonsense."
Developments
Jake Richards, the justice minister, responded by saying, "We are working closely with Serco and have seen an improvement in the implementation since March this year. Although there is a presumption of every person being tagged, ultimately it is an operational decision."
This month, about 2,000 criminals, including domestic abusers and violent offenders, are being released, with an additional 3,000 to follow in stages over the next year. The number was reduced from 6,000 after an intervention by Andy Burnham. Notably, prisoners convicted of manslaughter, such as the killers of PC Andrew Harper, who died in the line of duty in 2019, are excluded from early release.
