Tagging criminals 'has been a £1billion failure and leaves them

free to commit offences when not under curfew'

 Offenders are unmonitored when not at home where there tag works in tandem with monitoring device
 Think-tank behind new study calls for new tags that monitor criminal's every movement using GPS
 Approximately 80,000 criminals are tagged every year

By Jack Doyle. Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2207648/Tagging-criminals-1billion-failure-leaves-free-commit-offences-curfew.html

Putting electronic tags on criminals has cost taxpayers £1billion over 13 years – but leaves them free to commit
crime by day, according to a study.

Outdated technology, ten times more expensive than that used in the US, means offenders are unmonitored
when not under curfew at home, says the think-tank Policy Exchange.

It is calling for new tags to monitor criminals’ every movement using GPS technology. Around 80,000
offenders are tagged every year, including former prisoners released early and criminals serving community
sentences.

Most are required to be at home between 7pm and 7am, when their tag works in tandem with a monitoring
device.

But the report says night-time curfews ‘do little to prevent reoffending during the day’.

A study earlier this year revealed around six in ten tagged criminals break the terms of their curfew. But it
found they could be at home for as little as one minute of a single 12-hour period and still get off with only a
warning.

Critics say tagging is wrongly used as a cheap alternative to prison. When tags were introduced, politicians said
they would act as a ‘prison without bars’, but the latest report concludes this never happened.

Researchers also called for police and probation officials to help monitor offenders instead of the private
companies doing the work now. They said the existing system – operated by G4S, the firm behind the Olympic
security shambles, and Serco – is outdated and expensive.

Handing control of tagging to the police would save £70million a year – enough to pay for an additional 1,200
police officers. The report said tagging cost £13.14 a day per criminal in England and Wales, compared with
only £1.22 in the US.

Under Ministry of Justice plans, the use of tagging is expected to grow sharply in coming years, with criminals
placed on longer curfews. But probation unions say plans to tag up to 180,000 criminals would put the public at
risk.

In August last year two G4S workers were sacked after they placed an electronic tag on an offender’s false leg,
meaning he could take it off. The 29-year-old was under curfew for drinking and driving, and carrying an
offensive weapon, but by removing his leg he was able to leave his home without detection.

Last week G4S was awarded a five-year, £13million contract by the Scottish government to fit criminals with
new GPS tags, allowing their whereabouts to be monitored at all times.

Justice Secretary Chris Grayling said: ‘We are committed to ensuring electronic monitoring is an effective tool
in supporting the punishment of offenders and helping make our communities safer, and are already taking
forward some of the proposals in this report.

‘New contracts for electronic monitoring services are due to come into effect, allowing us to improve delivery
and introduce the most sophisticated and advanced technology in the world. They will also represent better
value for taxpayers.’