Ministers are “apoplectic” that domestic abusers have been freed from jail without electronic tags required under their licences, Jess Phillips has said.
The safeguarding minister said the Government had been shocked to discover that hundreds of offenders had been freed from prison without being electronically tagged after shortages of staff led to delays in fitting the devices.
The Telegraph revealed on Thursday that offenders freed without tags included domestic abusers, where the devices play a key role in enforcing home curfews and geographical bans designed to prevent the offenders from approaching or contacting their victims.
The problems are believed to have been compounded by the early release of hundreds of prisoners under the Ministry of Justice’s (MoJ) scheme launched earlier this month to prevent jails running out of space.
Speaking on Sky News, Ms Phillips said: “I am, as is the Justice Secretary and prisons minister – who I have spoken to about this – apoplectic at the idea that there are contracts that are slow [to fit prisoners with tags].
“One thing I have ensured is put in place is that any of the backlog that has an issue with domestic abuse will be a priority for tagging.”
‘We are holding Serco to account’
The tagging delays emerged before Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, unveiled plans to give police and other agencies powers to impose lifetime bans on domestic abusers approaching their victims and pilot schemes to place domestic abuse specialists in 999 control rooms to help police respond appropriately to victims.
Under the rules, tags have to be fitted within 48 hours of a prisoner being freed from jail. The ex-offender has to stay at a fixed address for that length of time so it can be done.
It is understood staff shortages have meant Serco, the company which manages the Government’s Electronic Monitoring Services (EMS) system, has not fitted them to the freed prisoners within the required 48-hour deadline.
This has led to a backlog which has meant offenders have been able to walk free from their homes after 48 hours without any tags. Sources said the backlogs had been compounded because when Serco staff turned up to fit the tags, the ex-prisoners could be out.
The MoJ 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 national emergency’
Ms Phillips said domestic abuse had been treated as the “Cinderella” of crimes. Speaking to Times Radio, she said: “I have listened for years (to) people saying … ‘we can’t do this because of this’, and it’s always about domestic abuse. We never, ever say is there the manpower for other forms of crimes?”
She added: “Domestic abuse and violence against women and girls has always been the Cinderella. And actually, working with police over the last couple of weeks, I think for the first time I am noticing how much they recognise there is a national emergency, a total national emergency, and they are, I have to say, quite delighted that the Government is putting quite so much priority into it.”
Serco, which took over the electronic monitoring contract in May, said they had been “working hard to reduce the number of people waiting to have a tag fitted”.
They said they were prioritising cases “based on risk profiles”.
Source Agencies
