Rapists and child sex offenders are set to be tagged with GPS for a year following their release from prison, in what is being labelled a “game-changing” £700million investment.
Upon completion of their full prison term, offenders will face 24/7 real-time GPS tracking for at least a year.
Under current rules, probation staff have had to request location information from an electronic monitoring provider.
The new rules now mean that staff can access location data within minutes.
The technology is already in use in London and is set to be rolled out nationally by the end of this year.
The new plans also include random drug testing for 1,000 offenders each month, as well as giving probation staff the powers to ban offenders from driving or attending pubs and events, such as football matches.
There are also plans to send offenders push notifications should they begin to get close to a boundary to allow for immediate warnings to be given.
Secretary of State for Justice, Alex Norris, said: “Dangerous offenders should be under no illusion – if they break the rules we will know about it and put them behind bars.
“That’s why I’m launching the biggest expansion of tagging in British history, putting more criminals than ever under constant surveillance.
“And we’re backing our probation officers with new tech to act fast when offenders step out of line.
“That means tough punishment in the community, victims put front and centre and a probation service focused on what matters most – keeping the public safe.”
Senior Probation Officer Amy Hughes said: “This is a real game changer for us. Previously, if we needed to check where someone had been, getting that information could take time.
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“Now we can get a much clearer picture of their movements quickly and easily.
“It makes the day-to-day job simpler, but more importantly it gives you greater confidence that you can spot when something isn’t right.
“If someone’s behaviour is changing or their risk looks like it might be escalating, having that information at your fingertips helps you join the dots much sooner and take action before things potentially become more serious.”
The additions form part of a wider £700million investment from the Government which will see an additional 1.300 probation officers set to be employed.
It comes as the Justice Secretary is set to find a way to keep PC Andrew Harper’s killers behind bars.
Downing Street admitted it was “not possible” to exempt “one or two offenders” convicted of manslaughter from the early release scheme.
No10 insisted Prime Minister Andy Burnham is “far from accepting the situation" but seemingly moved away from the prospect of an imminent carve-out to keep Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers behind bars.”
Cole and Bowers, who were jailed for 13 years each for killing PC Andrew Harper in 2019, are among the prisoners who are set to be set free early as new Government plans come into play, releasing 5,000 criminals prematurely over a 10-month period.
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