Electronic Monitoring – ‘EM’ or ‘tagging’ – is at the heart of the government’s plans for the justice system. Tags are used to enforce curfews, prevent drug and alcohol abuse, and even ensure that people stay away from certain areas. In 2021, there were 13,400 tagged people. From September, as part of the new sentencing regime, the Ministry of Justice is introducing a presumption to tag all prison leavers, meaning that from 2027 the government expects an additional 22,000 people will be tagged every year. And as the new Sentencing Acts takes effect, people will be serving shorter sentences and spending more time supervised by probation, meaning that the number on tags is going to rise and rise.
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The tagging system has been the subject of much concern ever since a Spectator scoop two years ago, in which we revealed that many people who should have been tagged, hadn’t been. At the time, I know ministers were furious with Serco, the outsourced tagging provider. The implications for public safety were obvious and severe. Often very dangerous criminals who were supposed to be having their risk managed by tags were wandering around entirely unmonitored. The government made it clear how committed they were to improving the situation.
