Justice secretary Alex Norris cannot say how many early-release prisoners have been tagged after first wave freed

From the Newshound archive · first published 2 October 2026 · last updated 5 October 2026.

Alex Norris admitted on Sunday he does not know how many of the roughly 700 male prisoners freed early on Thursday have been fitted with electronic monitoring tags, despite the government promising a "presumption of tagging" for early releases. The justice secretary told the BBC's 'Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg' it was "too soon" to have the figures, just days after Labour's Sentencing Act 2026 triggered the first of nearly 5,000 planned releases. He also could not confirm whether freed domestic abusers had been tagged.

One prisoner freed outside HMP Brixton openly told reporters: 'I've got 360 convictions... I'm gonna go stealing again.'

Norris insisted all released offenders remain on licence and can be recalled to jail if they breach conditions — but could not say how many have any monitoring at all.