UK bans record number of offenders from booze for Christmas

LONDON: A record 3,800 offenders who have been released from prison or are serving community sentences will be fitted with “alcohol tags” to track their drinking this Christmas, the UK government said on Monday.

The tags, fitted on offenders under court-ordered drinking bans, were first rolled out in 2020. They monitor alcohol in the wearer´s sweat and alert probation officers if any booze is detected.

A record number will be wearing the tags between Christmas and New Year, preventing offenders from indulging in festive tipples like mulled wine and prosecco, as well as any other alcoholic drinks.

The increased monitoring aims to help with “keeping streets safe and cutting alcohol-fuelled crime” including domestic abuse and drunken disorder, a justice ministry press release said. Prisons Minister James Timpson said the “sad reality” was that such crime “spikes at Christmas and has a devastating impact in our homes and town centres”.

The technology can distinguish between “low-levels of alcohol” in festive foods like mince pies, and alcoholic beverages that could result in drunkenness. Offenders on alcohol bans who wear the tags have remained sober for 97 percent of the days they have been tagged, according to government data.

The number of offenders forced to wear alcohol tags has more than doubled since 2022, as the government aims to find sentencing solutions outside jail cells to ease a prison overcrowding crisis.