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RE: Dispatches - The Great Tagging Scandal

Evan Davis — Fri, 05 Sep 2025 18:04:06 GMT

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[b]Evan Davis - 17 Apr 25 12:39 PM[/b]

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[b]punter99 - 16 Apr 25 5:31 PM[/b]

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[b]Evan Davis - 15 Apr 25 9:29 AM[/b]

Hello Forumers,

After watching the Channel 4 Dispatches last night, I felt compelled to come and share some of my thoughts on the Forum and see what other members who might've watched the programme thought.

After the previous scandal involving Serco, where they were billing the Government for tags they'd supposedly fit to deceased criminals, watching the programme last night and the utter incompetence of the firm running this contract in general was truly worrying - but for me, not for many of the reasons that the "general public" as such might be worried.

Don't get me wrong - I completely see that it's worrying to know that there are people convicted of murder out in the community unmonitored for months at a time - but what's concerning to me more is how this programme will be used to further restrict people on probation or subject to tagging and ultimately will likely lead to further draconian restrictions and possibly a surge in recalls for people who have "failed to comply" with their tagging requirements through no fault of their own.

Public protection will always be the #1 priority for the Ministry of Justice & HMPPS - and that's understandable - however what I'd really hope to see is a real focus on holding Serco fully to account for their failings, rather than scapegoating the people on probation/community orders subject to tagging that in most cases, through no fault of their own, are being let down by Serco and having the public perception of their "risk" heightened because of a private companies' failure.

Interested to hear anybody else's thoughts on the programme - please do share!

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Right now the priority is to keep people out of jail, to manage the prison population. The use of tagging will most likely increase when the latest sentencing review is published.

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Well actually, I slightly disagree.

It's quite clear, at least to me, that Government stated policy is not to "keep people out of jail", but actually to send people to jail more but release them sooner. SDS40 was the beginning of this. Since implementation of SDS40, despite the thousands upon thousands of prisoners released months early from sentences, the prison population has actually slightly grown. So, clearly, more people are being sent to prison than ever before.

However, the struggle will be that the Government is unable to state this policy publicly for fear of political attack, and is dealing with the previous Government bringing in things such as the Determinate Plus sentence, which has caused a huge rise in the prison population due to prisoners who've committed serious offences but not necessarily being deemed "dangerous" being required to serve 2/3rds of their sentence instead of the normal 1/2 (or as is now, 40%). Obviously, the Government can't reverse Determinate Plus - that will give a huge attack line for the opposition to attack them with and paint them as "soft on crime".

When I think of these things in detail, the political moves and motives seem to make more sense, and become slightly more predictable in a sense.

I know many in prison were excited by the appointment of James Timpson, and saw him as a real reformist and a chance for change within the prison system. However, since his appointment, Lord Timpson has essentially disappeared - he doesn't do media, doesn't often make public statements, and isn't doing anywhere near as much prison-related work (at least publicly) that he was doing before he became a Minister.

My cynical view says that this is because Lord Timpson has realised that there's a clash of opinion about the direction the prison and criminal justice system in general should be taking, a clash between himself and the Secretary of State for Justice, that in my view is only likely to be resolved once one of them are moved to another post. They just have fundamental disagreements on policy questions that I don't think they're able to resolve.

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I wonder if today's political news and the move of Shabana Mahmood away from the Justice portfolio may be a sign that senior figures have recognised there has been a divide between the ministerial team of late. David Lammy has now taken the Justice portfolio, alongside becoming Deputy Prime Minister - which may indicate, perhaps, that Minister Timpson may be given additional autonomy within his own Prison & Probation brief - given that presumably Lammy will have other responsibilities outside of Justice.

Dispatches - The Great Tagging Scandal

Evan Davis — Fri, 05 Sep 2025 18:04:06 GMT

RE: Dispatches - The Great Tagging Scandal

AB2014 — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 13:36:57 GMT

[quote]

[b]Evan Davis - 17 Apr 25 12:39 PM[/b]

[quote]

[b]punter99 - 16 Apr 25 5:31 PM[/b]

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[b]Evan Davis - 15 Apr 25 9:29 AM[/b]

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Right now the priority is to keep people out of jail, to manage the prison population. The use of tagging will most likely increase when the latest sentencing review is published.

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I agree with all of that, and I'm not going to defend Lord Timpson, but maybe he is waiting for the second part of David Gauke's Independent Review of Sentencing, so that he can toe the line on that. He might even have been told to do that, rather than risk making pronouncements that end up contradicting the eventual policy line.

RE: Dispatches - The Great Tagging Scandal

Evan Davis — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 12:39:19 GMT

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[b]punter99 - 16 Apr 25 5:31 PM[/b]

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[b]Evan Davis - 15 Apr 25 9:29 AM[/b]

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Right now the priority is to keep people out of jail, to manage the prison population. The use of tagging will most likely increase when the latest sentencing review is published.

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RE: Dispatches - The Great Tagging Scandal

expatofff — Wed, 16 Apr 2025 22:12:18 GMT

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[b]Evan Davis - 15 Apr 25 9:29 AM[/b]

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It's a race to the bottom at the moment, and has been for years. To find the cheapest contractors they can, so these things will continue to happen.

I don't think it's exciting enough to get the public interested, especially with the world as it is.

RE: Dispatches - The Great Tagging Scandal

punter99 — Wed, 16 Apr 2025 17:31:12 GMT

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[b]Evan Davis - 15 Apr 25 9:29 AM[/b]

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Right now the priority is to keep people out of jail, to manage the prison population. The use of tagging will most likely increase when the latest sentencing review is published.