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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Rajeev Syal Home affairs editor

More community sentences in England and Wales could be ‘catastrophic’, warns watchdog

Ankle tag worn by person on community sentence wearing Air Max trainer
Labour wants to cut down on short custodial sentences in favour of tagging and other community based alternatives. Photograph: Mark Richardson/Alamy

Plans to allow thousands more criminals in England and Wales to serve their sentence in the community risk “catastrophic consequences” unless the Probation Service is overhauled, a watchdog has told the Guardian.

Martin Jones, HM chief inspector of probation, said government plans to hand responsibility for overseeing offenders from prisons to probation officers meant the risk “is carried directly into the community”.

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