THE Justice Secretary Alex Norris was unable to say how many of the prisoners released this week have been tagged.
On Thursday, some 700 inmates walked free from jail as part of the controversial early release scheme.
Speaking to Laura Kuenssberg today, Mr Norris said: “for the first time there is a presumption on tagging” for those up for early release.
But he added: “Day four is too early for me for the numbers”.
This comes after due to delays in fitting electronic tags.
The significant delays are creating a “false sense of assurance” for victims and are leading to repeated breaches of curfews and court orders, the report said.
Inspectors also found just over half of GPS and radio frequency tags were fitted on time, while just 60 per cent of monitoring tags were fitted promptly.
GPS location tags are used to confine sexual offenders and domestic abusers to “restriction zones” which are mapped out with the victim of the crime.
Mr Norris said this morning: “With domestic abuse we would like to have gone further.”
“We haven’t been able to because the alternative would have no prison places which would have meant the perpetrators being bailed back to home.”
The report, published earlier this week, also found that in only 46 per cent of cases were major violations raised and explored.
Despite the findings, Mr Norris insisted today that “safeguards” are in place which mean “if those individuals do breach their licence they are going back to prison.”
This comes after it was reported last month that the majority of prisoners being freed under the early release scheme
The Ministry of Justice has insisted those released will be under the “toughest supervision in British history.”
The tranche of offenders released on Thursday were the first of 4,500 prisoners who will be released over the next year in an effort to tackle prison overcrowding.
Several of the newly released prisoners thanked the PM as they walked out of jail.
One man leaving HMP Cardiff, who was asked if he had a message for the PM, said: “Thank you very much and don’t get me back here again, bro.”
Under new regulations, offenders will be banned from entering , clubs and public events as part of the “biggest-ever” expansion of electronic monitoring.
Some victims remain fearful that the system cannot manage the hundreds of early releases.
One mother, whose son was “They’re letting people out too early with not the right resources.
Donna Thompson’s son Shane, 32, was murdered by Robert Goodwin, who had left jail two weeks earlier.
She added: “When they come out, there’s no drug rehabilitation, probation isn’t knocking on the door for surprise visits.”
