HC Deb 28 January 1999 vol 324 c353W
Lorna Fitzsimons

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the Home Detention Curfew scheme will be implemented. [68426]

Mr. Straw

The Home Detention Curfew Scheme, under which selected short term prisoners may spend up to the last two months of the custodial part of their sentence under a curfew enforced by electronic monitoring, will commence on 28 January. The scheme will provide a managed transition between prison and living in the community. It will deprive them of their liberty for a major part of the day and also provide some structure and order into often disorganized lives. No prisoner will be allowed on the scheme without a risk assessment, and those who fail to comply with the conditions of the scheme may be recalled to prison.