Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of people released from prison on a home detention curfew were subsequently returned to prison as a result of a breach of that condition in each of the last five years.

Prisoners sentenced to a standard determinate custodial sentence must be released automatically at the halfway point of their sentence. Those sentenced to at least 12 weeks but less than four years may be released on Home Detention Curfew (HDC) up to 135 days before the halfway point, depending on sentence length. HDC is a robust scheme which allows suitable, risk assessed, prisoners to work towards rehabilitation in the community, while remaining subject to strict monitoring and other conditions. If they breach these, they can be returned to custody. HDC allows reintegration back into the community in a controlled and supervised way, which research suggests may help to reduce the risk of further offending.

Offenders released on HDC are subject to electronically monitored curfew conditions in addition to the general conditions of supervision required for offenders released on license but not on HDC. Most HDC recalls are for curfew-related breaches, for example missing the curfew, tampering with the equipment or technical inability to monitor, such as where the offender loses their accommodation. The rest relate to breaches of the general supervision conditions, such as failing to keep in touch with the offender manager or being charged with a further offence.

We have not published to that level of detail since 2014. Of the 842 recalls that year, 650 were EM Curfew related.

The table below shows the number of people released on HDC, recalled to prison whilst on HDC, and the proportion of those released who were so recalled in each of the last five years.