Electronic tagging available from April in the North

Electronic tagging of offenders will be introduced in the North within weeks, it was announced today.

Several years after it began in England and Wales, the measure will be available to the courts in the North from the start of April.

Criminal Justice Minister Paul Goggins said it would play a significant role in improving public protection and in managing and rehabilitating offenders.

Curfews enforced by an electronic tag will be used in a variety of ways – as a condition of bail, as a condition of release from prison under licence, or as a requirement of a community sentence or a youth conference plan.

Jade Goody’s new husband Jack Tweed is wearing a tag as part of curfew arrangements following his release from prison after serving a sentence for assault.

His curfew arrangements, which are monitored by the tag, were varied so he could spend his wedding night with the terminally ill reality TV star.

Tagging is being introduced under the terms of the Criminal Justice Order 2008 which brought in improvements and modernised the criminal justice system in Northern Ireland.

Mr Goggins said: “The introduction of electronic monitoring in Northern Ireland is a new and additional way of managing offenders in the community.

“These new provisions being introduced from April will enable frontline staff to enforce curfews through the use of electronic tags.

“They form part of the package of reforms passed by Parliament last year to enhance public protection by creating a more robust sentencing regime.”

He said it was a significant step in the delivery of public protection and would support the rehabilitation and resettlement of offenders and assist in the enforcement of bail curfews.

“It can help provide structure to the person’s daily routine, allowing them to remain with their family and participate in work, training, education and other rehabilitative programmes.”

International security company G4S has been appointed to deliver the monitoring service in the North.

It currently monitors around 40,000 people wearing tags in countries as far apart as the UK, US, France, Netherlands, Israel and New Zealand.

Field monitoring officers based in Northern Ireland will conduct installations and follow-up visits, and violations will be recorded as G4S’s control centre in Manchester.

Electronic monitoring is not satellite tracking but uses radio frequency technology to send a signal from the tag to a base unit. If the tagged person is absent from their place of curfew during the curfew period the unit detects a break in the signal and an alert is sent to the control centre.

Alerts are also sent if the tag is broken or damaged, or if the unit is switched off or moved. The tag cannot be taken off unless the strap is broken, according to the Government.

Tags do not interfere with the user’s daily life and they can play sport and even go swimming while wearing it.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland will be responsible for enforcing any curfew violations by people on bail and the Probation Board or Youth Justice Agency will take the lead for any offenders within their supervisory arrangements.