Politics newest: Recall situations modified for some prisoners and new jails to be constructed to ease overcrowding disaster | Politics Information

The justice secretary has simply stated that know-how might result in the federal government making a “digital jail”. 

However what are these? 

Shabana Mahmood stated these permit those that have served their jail sentences and been launched to be watched “much more carefully than they are often watched in jail”.

This is able to entail folks being issued with curfews, given tags that observe their places or whether or not they’re ingesting alcohol, and different technological measures. 

This is not a groundbreaking thought and lots of of those strategies are already in use. 

However the lord chancellor stated the federal government should “seize on these alternatives” and develop them rather more extensively. 

It is a signal of issues to return with the Sentencing Evaluation, on account of be launched within the coming weeks, anticipated to advocate extra use of group sentences and decreased time behind bars for a lot of of these people who find themselves jailed.

How have digital prisons gone down?

The phrase ‘digital jail’ hasn’t gone unnoticed by journalists on the press convention held by Mahmood.

One particular person asks whether it is “actually punishment” if former prisoners serve their sentenced by sitting at dwelling watching TV.

Mahmood responded that she has requested the unbiased assessment, being carried out by former justice secretary David Gauke, to have a look at “learn how to guarantee that we’ve good group punishment”.

“A curtailment of liberty and curtailment of liberties are a technique through which our society tells offenders that that is how they’re punished after they break the legal guidelines,” she stated.

She added that she desires the general public to believe that serving time locally is an actual punishment. 

The justice secretary additionally stated these types of ‘prisons’ might assist the federal government “rehabilitate offenders in order that they flip into higher residents somewhat than the higher criminals”, which she added prisons are at the moment “producing far too lots of” in the intervening time.

The tech is robust and it really works, justice secretary insists

Mahmood was additionally pushed once more on whether or not the general public can actually be assured {that a} digital jail will hold the general public protected.

She stated that: “The very first thing I’d say is the tech works. We’re very assured that whether or not they’re radio frequency tags, GPS tags or alcohol monitoring tags… all of them work.

“The tech is robust, it really works. It does the job.”

She stated there have been points with the contractor, Serco, on administering tags – teething issues that have been seen throughout the federal government’s early releases final yr. 

However she added that “efficiency is now in a significantly better place” and {that a} backlog of individuals ready for tags has been cleared.

Mahmood additionally revealed {that a} examine revealed final week confirmed a radio frequency tag cuts reoffending by 20%.