Security company could face ‘penalties’ for delays in fitting electronic tags

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

A security company could face “penalties” for the delays in fitting some offenders with electronic tags after they have been released from prison, a Home Office minister has suggested.

Jess Phillips said the Government has had “robust” conversations with Serco, which took over the Ministry of Justice’s (MoJ) tagging contract in May this year.

This comes after around 1,700 prisoners were released early from their sentences last week in the first phase of the Government’s plan to tackle overcrowding.

On Thursday, prisons minister Lord Timpson is due to have a meeting with the security company, which has said it is “working hard” to reduce the backlog.

Speaking to LBC News radio, Ms Phillips said she was “disappointed” to learn of the delays, adding: “It’s not the Government who has made the backlog in tags, it is a contract signed with Serco in May this year.

“And I have been in meetings with regard to ensuring that … any perpetrators of domestic abuse, are put to the top of the list, to ensure that they are being fitted with those tags.”

She went on to say: “The prisons minister, I believe, has had some pretty robust meetings, and is meeting with Serco today, but the contract certainly has in it the allowances for there to be penalties.”

“I’m almost certain that in this case, that unless something massively improves very, very quickly, that all of those things will be considered,” she added.

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.”

Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced plans in July to cut temporarily the proportion of sentences which inmates must serve behind bars from 50% to 40%.

The Government said the measures were necessary as overcrowding had pushed jails to the “point of collapse”.

A Serco spokesperson said: “Since we took over the electronic monitoring contract in May 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.

“Where an individual is not at home when we call to fit a tag the time taken can be longer.

“We prioritise making another visit so that people are tagged as soon as possible.”