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Secret Government plan will see offenders given shorter sentences for wearing tags
Last updated at 00:07am on 14.01.08
Secret move: Offenders who are electronically tagged while awaiting trial will receive shorter prison terms
Labour has been accused of cynicism after Justice Secretary Jack Straw slipped the change through Parliament last week by adding a clause to the new Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill.
It means the number of hours offenders, including thieves and drug dealers, are forced to spend at home under curfew will be deducted from their eventual sentence.
Last night the Conservatives dubbed the scheme a "get out of jail free" card and said it was a desperate bid to slash the prison population.
Shadow Justice Minister Edward Garnier said: "The Government has made a mockery of parliamentary democracy by ramming ill-considered new criminal justice laws through the House of Commons without a vote.
"I fail to see how time spent at home drinking and taking drugs can be classed as incarceration."
Shadow Justice Secretary Nick Herbert said: "Far from being tough on crime and on the causes of crime, Jack Straw is giving criminals a break."
Over the past ten years, the Government has been forced into emergency measures, including releasing thousands of inmates early, to cope with overflowing jails.
Last night, however, the prison population stood close to capacity at 79,976.
Now, in a further bid to keep numbers down, the Government has introduced the amendment forcing judges to deduct from future sentences the time an offender spends tagged on bail.
New Clause 26, as it is titled, is one of more than 300 amendments introduced last Wednesday to the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill, that cannot now be voted on by MPs.
Effectively, the clause means the hours criminals spend under curfew at home, where they are free to watch TV, eat dinner and throw parties, will now count towards "time served".
According to the National Association of Probation Officers (NAPO), the likely impact of the change is that "each prisoner would receive a discount of six weeks off their sentence".
Harry Fletcher, NAPO assistant general secretary, said: "This Government has failed to build enough prison places and is constantly trying to sneak through emergency changes.
"Home detention is not incarceration. Using it like this may put the public at risk."
A spate of recent murders by tagged criminals has raised fears that the move will lead to a rise in violent crime.
Last month, Kieran Wright, 17, should have been at home when he killed 15-year-old Michael Morgan in Lancing, West Sussex, but a breakdown in communication between court officials and a tagging company left him free to kill.
In November last year, Lloyd Edwards, 19, was jailed for life for killing mother-of-two Laila Rezk, 51, in Putney, South London, when he was supposed to be on a home tagging order.
The Ministry of Justice said: "Prisoners would need to be subject to an electronically monitored curfew for at least nine hours a day to qualify for the credit.
"Sentencers would be required to take account of the defendant's compliance and have discretion to direct that all, part or none of the available time would be credited against the sentence."
