http://digbig.com/4nhfm
Stephen Lewis
"FIVE killings, 56 woundings and more than 700 assaults. That is the shocking tally of violent crimes committed by prisoners released early under electronic tagging schemes. The figures have sparked Conservative claims that the Government, which introduced tagging, is showing a "shocking disregard for public safety" in its attempts to ease pressure on overcrowded prisons.
The North Yorkshire Probation service today strongly backed tagging, however, insisting it worked. The county's chief probation officer Pete Brown said figures provided by Home Office minister Gerry Sutcliffe showed that fewer than four per cent of prisoners released early on a Home Detention Curfew electronic tagging scheme since 1999 had re-offended. That compared to a 67.4 per cent re-offending rate among those released from prison generally - a massive difference."
