Sobriety tags: a good idea?

Writing in The Guardian, Deborah Orr comments on 'Sobriety tags' due to be trialled in four London boroughs. She explains that given the relationship between drunkeness and arrests, and the lacklustre performance of prisons in acheiving their aims, or indeed providing a humane environment for prisoners, the devices 'offer punishment and opportunity in a way prison rarely does'.

James Kilgore, writing in Truth Out, is less optimistic about electronic tagging as a quick fix for mass incarceration. He cites evidence that people who are tagged have fewer rights than prisoners. He also points out that the marketisation of electronic monitoring inevitably leads to net widening as private contractors seek to expand their markets.