Electronic Tagging & Curfews

A curfew requires you to stay at an agreed address during the times you have been told. Usually this is between 7pm and 7am. It is commonly known as electronic ‘tagging’ and it is a way of restricting your liberty.

Being tagged can make it harder for you to commit further crimes. It can help break your patterns of offending by making you stay at the agreed address.

Many people who are tagged say it gives them a new sense of structure and discipline.

There are two types of curfew:

  • Curfew Order - imposed by the courts on offenders over the age of 16 Home
  • Detention Curfew - imposed by the Prison Governor as part of your early release from prison.

An electronic tag and curfew can give an offender a new sense of structure and discipline.

If the order was made by a court then it can be for a minimum of two weeks to a maximum of six months. This is known as a Curfew Order. If you are assessed as suitable for the curfew while in prison you can be released from a minimum of two weeks and up to a maximum of 90 days earlier than you normally would be.

The length of the original sentence also affects the length of the curfew period. This is known as a Home Detention Curfew (HDC).

Normally your curfew will begin on the day and time specified by the court or the day you are released from prison.

If you don’t have a telephone, one will be provided at no cost to yourself. All calls you make to the Monitoring Centre will be free.

You will not be able to use the telephone provided to make any other calls other than to emergency services.

Yes. You may be on a curfew and sentenced to another order such as Unpaid Work. A curfew can also be a stand-alone order. So you may be on a curfew with no other requirements.
It is a way of making sure that you are staying at the agreed address during the times you have been told. The tag will be attached to your wrist or ankle. It is a small electronic device which looks like a watch.

Your tag is linked to a monitoring machine installed in the place where you are living. The machine is linked via a telephone line to a monitoring centre. Staff at the monitoring centre can immediately tell if the curfew is broken and can return you to court or prison if you break the curfew.