THE “disproportionately high” number of prisoners on remand in Scotland could be tackled by a massive expansion in tagging.

That was one of the key recommendations in a report from the Scottish Government’s expert group on electronic monitoring.

The group of prison officers, social services, police, academic and policy wonks have spent the last two years working on how best to develop tagging in Scotland. Yesterday their report made six recommendations, all readily welcomed by Justice Minister Michael Matheson, who says the new proposals could massively cut reoffending rates.

The group’s proposals included adding GPS tracking to the tags of some offenders, to keep them fully tracked.

For offenders banned from drinking, the group called for the introduction of “transdermal alcohol tagging”; small devices that near constantly check the sweat of prisoners for signs of alcohol use.

Ministers have also committed to look at extending tagging as an alternative to short prison sentences, remand and some fines, and to be used on sex offenders or paedophiles who have orders preventing them from being in certain places.

Matheson welcomed the report, saying he backed the “overwhelming message from the experts” that Scotland could “significantly reduce reoffending by better use of electronic tagging and emerging monitoring technology.”

“Effective community sentences have driven Scotland’s reoffending rate down to a 17 year low using smarter, more effective interventions. The potential of combining community sentencing alternatives with tagging will allow us to hold people to greater account and focus on rehabilitating them,” he said.

He added: “There will always be crimes where a prison sentence is the only reasonable response, but international research backs our own experience that short term sentences are not the most effective way to bring down reoffending.”

Stirling University criminologist and electronic monitoring researcher Dr Hannah Graham carried out the studies in the report and said adopting the recommendations, along with other reforms, could see Scotland taking a more “Scandinavian” approach to criminal justice.

“Tagging and curfews alone don’t address the underlying reasons why people commit crime, so the working group’s recommendations are welcome for how they emphasise integration with rehabilitative supports to help leave crime behind,” she said.

“This announcement and the working group’s recommendations show Scotland taking a more European approach to electronic monitoring, learning from the Dutch goal-oriented approach and leading Scandinavian examples.

“There is good evidence underpinning these approaches, and I would argue this is a better and bolder direction for Scotland to pursue.”

Tagging was introduced across Scotland in 2001, with then deputy justice secretary Jim Wallace was desperately trying to reduce the sheer number of people in Scotland’s jails.

Scottish Conservative justice secretary spokesman Douglas Ross said the plans announced yesterday would have to be robustly monitored if they were to retain public confidence: “We saw in recent weeks how some rapists have been escaping jail and instead handed community sentences.

“That’s an indication that, when the Scottish Government insists on an alternative form of punishment, it inevitably gets used on the wrong people.”

Scottish Greens’ justice spokesperson, John Finnie said electronic tagging was a suitable alternative to imprisonment: “Greens support properly resourced alternatives to custody and a presumption against short sentences which have been shown to be ineffective,” he said.

Lib Dem spokesman Liam McArthur said tagging would be a way “to reduce Scotland’s inflated prison population”, but said the Government must back it up with other “radical reforms”.


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