The UK government has announced the largest expansion of electronic tagging in British history, with tens of thousands of offenders being released from prisons in England and Wales wearing real-time location tracking tags. The move comes amid an overcrowding crisis that led to the early release of about 40,000 prisoners under an emergency scheme launched in September 2024.
Prisons minister James Timpson said a new pilot scheme would track domestic abusers and stalkers, alerting authorities if they approach their victims. Other offenders will wear geolocation tags enabling probation officers to monitor their live location. Under the plans, most ex-offenders leaving prison will be tagged as part of intensive supervision, while probation officers will have fewer meetings with low-risk prisoners to focus on high-risk offenders such as terrorists, murderers, and prolific sex offenders.
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said it would recruit 1,300 extra probation officers in the next year as part of a £700m investment by 2029, including £100m for the tagging expansion. A £5m pilot will test proximity monitoring technology for domestic abusers and stalkers. This follows warnings from the public accounts committee that longstanding staff shortages left probation staff dealing with excessive workloads, with officers working at 126% of capacity in some areas.
However, critics have raised concerns. Pia Sinha, CEO of the Prison Reform Trust, said tagging is 'not a panacea for reducing reoffending' and could lead to more breaches and recalls. Victims' commissioner Claire Waxman warned that tagging must be backed by swift enforcement to avoid creating a false sense of security for victims.
