The Bob Boardman case and curfew violations
Problems with G4S’s tagging made the headlines in 2003 when G4S-tagged offender Robert Clegg violently murdered Bob Boardman, a disabled grandfather of three. As described in an article entitled, “Attacking when they should be locked away,” Clegg had breached his curfew or tampered with his tag 13 times without penalty by the time he went on to remove the tag entirely, go on a two-day drinks and drugs binge, and then stab Boardman thirty times and break every bone in his face.
Clegg’s blatant curfew violations are not unusual. According to British media reports, a disturbing number of offenders are violating their curfews repeatedly, and G4S often fails to properly report these violations to the police. For examples, read more here.
A National Audit Office study published in February 2006 concluded that G4S Justice Services and another company handling tagging failed to report 35% of breaches within twenty-four hours. The study also stated that only 85% of offenders were fitted with their tags within twenty-four hours. The study’s authors wrote that “ such delays can be damaging as the offender may not be electronically monitored during this period which increases the risk of further breaches or re-offending.”
G4S Says It Allowed 600 Criminals to Roam the Streets
An internal document from the regional G4S Justice Services monitoring center in East Midlands, as revealed by the Sunday Times in January 2006, stated that 600 tagged criminals, two thirds of those tagged in the region, had violated their curfews. Many of these offenders had been convicted of violent offenses.
Law enforcement professionals and other organizations have voiced their criticism of this flawed program. Harry Fletcher, assistant general secretary of the National Association of Probation Officers, told the Sunday Times that lapses are widespread. “There are delays in tags being fitted and offenders are not being properly monitored. We have seen examples of people violating their curfews 20 or 30 times.”
Norman Brennan, from the Victims of Crime Trust, told reporters that, “it’s not effective and it’s often a license for offenders to continue their criminal activity with impunity.”
G4S Ignores Offenders’ Complaints of Broken Tags
While G4S fails to prevent blatant curfew violations, its slipshod work also makes things harder for offenders genuinely trying to get back on the straight and narrow. The British Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee has heard testimony about two men who reported to G4S that their tags had faulty straps and had come off. Both men were then returned to prison. Their requests that the straps be saved as evidence were denied, making it practically impossible for them to prove that the company was at fault.
Mark Smith, arrested for driving while disqualified, reported that he actively sought out his tag with no success for weeks after it should have been fitted. Two weeks after he was released and told he would be immediately fitted with a tag, he had spoken to his parole officer twice with no success. “All I want now is to get what I’ve been sentenced to,” he told the Evening Chronicle. “If I don’t, any policeman could come up to me and say they want to check my tag and I wouldn’t have it on, so I’d be arrested again.” According to the Evening Chronicle, the National Probation Service had checked with the Magistrates’ courts, who said that they had already sent the request to G4S. Still, Smith was waiting for his tag. Donna Ellis, the mother of Smith’s two children, said, “we just want the tag put on so we can get on with our lives.”