Criminals freed under Labour’s early release scheme went eight weeks without being fitted with electronic monitoring tag_nhy
Criminals released early from prison under Labour went unmonitored for up to nearly eight weeks before being fitted with an electronic tag.
Prisoners ordinarily have the ankle-worn devices fitted within a few hours of being freed so authorities can ensure offenders comply with strict conditions such as curfews, alcohol intake and avoiding certain locations.
But it took up to 53 days to tag every criminal under its controversial early release scheme in September.
Experts said the ‘chaotic, shambolic’ tagging system ‘is very obviously failing to protect the public’.
David Shipley, a convicted fraudster who writes, speaks and researches on prison and justice issues, said: ‘To have a gap of 53 days is appalling – even two weeks is crazy.
‘It is an extraordinary amount of time not being supervised. It just makes a mockery of the system and is very obviously failing to protect the public.’
He added: ‘Well-behaved people were phoning up to say, ‘I’ve not been tagged’ and they were told they were prioritising the high-risk people.
‘It would be very unrealistic to assume every single person on a tag would have stayed at home and complied – if that was the case then the system would be done on trust which, of course, it isn’t.’
Daniel Dowling-Brooks celebrates after being released outside HM Prison Swaleside on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent
Convicts leaving HM Prison Brixton in London after being released early in an attempt to ease prison overcrowding
People seen outside HM Prison Liverpool after hundreds of inmates were let out early in an attempt to ease overcrowding in prisons
Nearly 1,900 prisoners were released in England and Wales in September last year, including those convicted of violent offences, after serving just 40 per cent of their sentences.
A further 1,200 offenders were released the following month as part of Labour plans to ease prison overcrowding, despite concerns from victims’ groups.
Freed prisoners were seen cheering and celebrating in the streets, with some saying they would now vote Labour as a ‘thank you’.
The Government admitted to the extent of the tagging delay in a written parliamentary question. It had previously said the performance of security contractor Serco in fitting the tags was ‘below acceptable levels’.
They said the service ‘improved’ for the second tranche of early-release prisoners in October, with all tags completed within 13 days.
A Serco spokesman refused to explain what caused the delays or give an update on the current length of time between a prisoner’s release and being tagged.
