Probation is in perpetual crisis. Can it protect the public from tens of thousands more criminals on the streets?

Up to 22,000 more criminals are likely to be electronically tagged - (Alamy/Getty)

With Britain’s crisis-hit prisons overflowing, ministers are pushing through plans for tens of thousands more criminals to be electronically tagged and punished in the community.

But with the Probation Service in a state of perpetual crisis – with too few staff handling too many cases and units missing 74 per cent of targets – fears are growing it is being “set up to fail”.