Home detention curfews don’t work, report finds

Young offenders and female prisoners released on home detention curfews with electronic tags are more likely to breach their curfews and end up back in jail compared to other prisoners, a government watchdog report said today.

The National Audit Office found that improvements were needed in assessing offenders before curfews were put in place.

In over a quarter of cases, prison staff responsible for monitoring the offender’s behaviour in custody had not provided written comments on assessment forms.

The report said that prisons with the lowest rate of tagged prisoners being recalled were open or lower security establishments where prisoners were more thoroughly assessed for risk.

It also found that security firms failed to report a third of breaches within 24 hours.

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