Jack Straw: denies reports of early releases

Straw Denies 'Tag and Release' Plan

The Home Secretary, Jack Straw, has denied suggestions that the Home Office is considering an extension of electronic tagging in order to reduce the prison population.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Mr Straw described the notion that thousands of prisoners could be released early as 'fiction'. He told the Conservative MP, John Greenway, "to come to be House better briefed to ask questions based on fact not fiction".

In the past two years just over 400 offenders have been tagged in pilot schemes in Norfolk, Reading and Manchester.

Faced with a prison population rising at around 250 a week, officials have been visiting the pilot schemes to examine the potential for major expansion. It had been suggested that Mr Straw was keen to exploit the technology in order to ease the burden on the Prison Service.

In spite of Mr Straw's denial, it is known that he is considering ways of tackling Britain's burgeoning prison population. On a visit to Whitemoor top security prison last Friday, said he was looking at the options to cope with the problem.

Jack Straw wants to make community sentences more effective

Last week it was revealed that one murder a week was committed by an offender on probation supervision. The Government believes it is essential for probation to get a better image if the impending crisis in prisons is to be averted.