How prisoners are able to roam around unmonitored amid a massive backlog of fitting electronic tags to inmates

Prisoners are being released from jail without being electronically tagged amid a massive backlog.

The Ministry of Justice confirmed there were delays with fitting the devices, which are meant to allow certain criminals movements to be tracked on release.

Probation officers said the situation was partly due to a shortage of tags and warned it could pose a danger to the public.

Offenders left untagged include some of those freed under the Governments early-release scheme, it is understood. 

Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood promised that tagging would provide crucial oversight of ­convicts released under her emergency measures.

Thousands of offenders are understood to have been already freed under the scheme, which launched on Tuesday last week amid scenes of criminals partying in the street.

Current delays in the tagging programme pre-date the early-release scheme, however.

The Mail understands that prisoners freed in the summer – and who were expecting to be tagged – have still not received a visit from MoJ contractors Serco. The company took over the £200 million, six-year electronic monitoring ­services (EMS) contract in May.

Prisoners are being released from jail without being electronically tagged amid a massive backlog (stock)

Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood (pictured) promised that tagging would provide crucial oversight of ­convicts released under her emergency measures - pictured here in her constituency office in Birmingham 

One former prisoner said: Ive been out for almost three weeks and they havent tagged me.

When I call the tag company they say theres a backlog, they arent prioritising anyone and theyll get to me when they can.

Another said: My probation officer didnt even know I hadnt been tagged.

A senior probation officer told the Mail: EMS cant keep on top of requests for tagging or ­information. Another senior officer told the BBC it was down to a shortage of tags, adding that the failure to enforce licence ­conditions on offenders could potentially be dangerous.

Electronic tagging is used as part of the home detention curfew scheme which allows inmates ­serving less than four years to spend the last six months of their sentence at home on a tag.

It is also available for other types of offenders, including those freed under Ms Mahmoods new scheme, which sees most inmates released after serving 40 per cent of their sentence.

Offenders left untagged include some of those freed under the Governments early-release scheme, it is understood (stock)

Last week, the Mail revealed that one criminal committed an alleged sexual assault within an hour of being released under the scheme and went on the run before being arrested.

MoJ sources said Ms Mahmood was furious at the delays in fitting tags. An MoJ spokesman said: We are holding Serco to account to address delays in fitting some offenders with tags, and will apply financial penalties against the company if this is not resolved quickly.

While this issue is ongoing, we have prioritised tagging domestic abuse offenders to make sure their licence conditions, such as staying away from their victims, are strictly followed.

A Serco spokesman said: We have been working hard to reduce the number of people waiting to have a tag fitted. We work closely with the MoJ and the Probation Service to fit tags swiftly and prioritise cases based on risk profiles.

Our justice system is at breaking point - and its nothing less than a public safety emergency 

By David Shipley for the Daily Mail   

In prisons across the land its an open secret. They arent tagging anyone, prisoners whisper to one another.

Although that might be an exaggeration, its not far from the truth.

When I was released from prison in August 2021, having served a sentence for fraud, my electronic tracking tag was fitted on the very evening I left, meaning probation services would know immediately if I broke my curfew.

Three years on, it appears the system is utterly broken and another key part of the governments public protection strategy has failed.

When prisoner release functions correctly, those let out of jail must be tagged as part of the Home Detention Curfew (HDC) scheme which requires them to stay at home, typically from 7pm to 7am.

The curfew system is operated by Electronic Monitoring Services (EMS), a company managed by the giant subcontracter Serco on behalf of the Ministry of Justice. This curfew can last for up to six months, and is considered an efficient way of managing lower-risk offenders in the community.

On the evening after a prisoners release, EMS visit their home, fit the tag, and set up the monitoring equipment. From then on, if they arent at home during curfew hours, an alarm will trigger on the device and the Probation Service should be informed.

But, as the Mail reveals today, offenders are remaining untagged for weeks after leaving prison - often with their probation officers totally unaware that this is the case. In fact, I understand that officers were only informed about untagged criminals yesterday. Shabana Mahmood, the Justice Secretary, is said to be furious and is demanding answers from Serco.

Prisoners were released early from prison across the UK in a move by the government as the system is unable to cope with the overcrowding (stock)

Its not good enough. Probation staff have a punishing job at the best of times. They supervise around 240,000 offenders, who have either been released from prison or who are serving a suspended sentence or community order.

Thanks to the new governments early prisoner release scheme, these numbers will only rise as most prisoners will now serve 60 per cent of their sentence in the community.

I know from personal experience that beleaguered probation staff are hard-working and often passionate about their duty to stop reoffending.

But the fact is that the organisation is desperately understaffed. It only has about 70 per cent of the qualified officers it needs. Even if the government achieves its promise to hire 1,000 new trainees by March 2025, there will still be a significant shortfall.

In this context, discovering that EMS and Serco are not only failing to tag offenders, but also not informing probation staff, is terrifying.

And Sercos assurance that: Where an individual is not at home…we prioritise making another visit so that people are tagged as soon as possible, is hardly going to reassure the public.

While the government insists that it is prioritising tagging domestic abusers, there are many released prisoners such as drug dealers and other violent criminals whose reoffending might well cause a risk to the public. Much crime of this kind, of course, is linked to nighttime behaviour and probation officers simply cant hope to do their job properly if they dont have proper information about the whereabouts of those theyre supervising.

I fear that we no longer have a functioning justice system, just the pretence of one.

Many life-ruining crimes arent even considered worthy of arrest or prosecution. Now, we are releasing the few prisoners who do feel the force of the law in a botched, unsupervised manner, leaving them free to reoffend again. Meanwhile, the arms of the state dont even communicate with one another.

Our justice system is at breaking point - and its nothing less than a public safety emergency.

David Shipley is a former prisoner who writes, speaks and researches on prison and justice issues.