Finally, some good news for the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) – tagging works! Last week, the prisons minister was unleashed to proclaim that the latest data on electronic monitoring (EM) of offenders not in custody shows the concept works. Well, up to a point, Lord Timpson.

A study of 3,600 offenders on tagging orders has reportedly shown a statistically significant reduction in their rates of reoffending compared with non-tagged prison leavers. It fell from 33 per cent to 26 per cent, which is not bad for government work. We should be grateful that giving ankle tags to offenders means only a quarter of them will go on to commit burglaries, thefts or robberies. There is, of course, a zero-risk baseline to compare this ‘progress’ against – incarceration.

Prisons are full to bursting, running

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