Waterways will be cleared by ‘chain gangs’

Under a £90 million expansion of community clean-up projects, offenders are to be put to work to clear canals and rivers of trolleys, rubbish and graffiti.

So that justice can be seen to be done, the offenders will work on so-called "Chain Gangs", in high-visibility fluorescent tabards, and will put in 200,000 weeks; the equivalent to eight million hours of work a year - cleaning up streets, alleyways and other open spaces.

The move, announced by Justice Secretary Dominic Raab, will see up to 2,000 miles of rivers and canals cleared of litter, debris, and graffiti in an agreement with the Canal and River Trust - the first such of its kind.

Ministers believe that many judges and courts have lost confidence in community sentences, and see no alternative other than to send minor offenders to jail on short jail sentences – a punishment that can often that can lead to a cycle of petty crime without effective rehabilitation.

Mr Raab, the deputy prime minister, will also announce an extra £183 million in funding, to enable the number of ex-offenders electronically tagged at any one time to nearly double from 13,500 this year to 25,000 by 2025. Over the next three years more than 12,000 released prisoners will be required to wear sobriety tags to prevent reoffending fuelled by drinking.

Sobriety tags test users' sweat for alcohol every 30 minutes and have already been trialled in Wales for offenders given community sentences for drink-related crimes.  It was found offenders stayed sober for 95 per cent of the days that they were monitored, and the tags are being expanded across England.

The tags are part of an offender's licence conditions - which means a return to jail for breaches. They can only be applied for 120 days, but ministers are considering extending that period to a year in the belief that longer periods are needed to consolidate changes in behaviour. The tags can distinguish between alcohol consumption and other types of alcohol such as hand sanitiser or perfume. They work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and can tell if someone tries to block contact between the tag and their skin.

Those to be tagged will include burglars, foreign national offenders released on immigration bail, and domestic abusers, where the tags GPS can create "safe" zones around victims from which they are banned. The Deputy Prime Minister said: "This major increase in high-tech GPS tagging will see us leading the world in using technology to fight crime and keep victims safe. From tackling alcohol-fuelled violence and burglary to protecting domestic abuse victims, we are developing tags to make our streets and communities safer."

Mr Raab reaffirmed his commitment to implement a victims' law, saying his "number one priority" was to protect women and girls: "We will transform the way the justice system treats violence against women. We will take the Victims Code, and turn that guidance into law, to make sure that in every case, for every victim, their voice is heard, and they see justice done," he said.

Mr Raab has also sanctioned £19 million for an innovation fund that will include work to expand sobriety tags to drugs, for which there is currently no tag-compatible detection system. They are harder to check for due to the multiple substances that need to be assessed by the device. 

PM Law 

Sheffield Solicitors