The New Home Detention Curfew Changes and Why They’re a Positive Step
At Prisoner Rights Legal Services, we keep a close eye on legal reforms that affect prisoners and their families, especially the recent home detention curfew changes that open up opportunities for fairer treatment, earlier release, and relief from the constant crisis of overcrowded prisons. One recent reform that deserves attention is the change to the Home Detention Curfew (HDC) scheme.
In short: the Government has proposed / legislated to extend the maximum period a prisoner can spend under HDC from 6 months (180 days) to 12 months (365 days). This change, along with adjustments to eligibility, could make a meaningful difference in easing prison pressure, enabling better reintegration, and improving fairness.
Below we explain exactly what has changed, why it matters, and why Prisoner Rights Legal Services strongly supports these reforms.
What Has Changed: The New Home Detention Curfew Rules
Here are the key home detention curfew changes:
Extended Maximum Time on Tag
Under the new regulations (The Home Detention Curfew (Amendment) Order 2024), eligible prisoners will be able to spend up to 12 months in the community under electronic monitoring (“on tag”), instead of just 6 months. 
Eligibility Adjustments
• Prisoners serving sentences of four years or more are no longer automatically excluded from being considered for HDC purely because of their sentence length. Previously, long sentences ruled this out. 
• The lifetime ban on prisoners who have previously been recalled while on HDC has been changed. Now, such recall will no longer automatically preclude reconsideration, though eligibility will still depend on risk assessment and suitability. 
Safeguards Remain in Place
The reforms do not remove existing safeguards:
• Offenders will still be risk assessed. 
• Certain serious offences (for example sexual offences, serious violence) remain excluded by law or policy. 
• The curfew (tag) must be at least 9 hours per day by law; generally policy will use around 12 hours per day. 
Legislative Basis
The changes are brought in via the Home Detention Curfew (Amendment) Order 2024 and amendments to statutory and policy frameworks including the Impact Assessment published in November 2024. 
Why These Changes Make a Difference
These reforms are more than bureaucratic tweaks. They have the potential to help in several vital ways:
Easing Prison Overcrowding
England & Wales prisons are severely overcrowded. Extending HDC gives a lawful and supervised mechanism to move eligible prisoners earlier into the community, reducing the burden on prison infrastructure. More people on tag means fewer behind bars, which helps with cell space, staffing, health risks, and safety.
Better Reintegration & Rehabilitation
Tagging is not just about release, it’s about helping people make that transition back into society under supervision, with support. The longer period on HDC means more time in the community to stabilize housing, work, relationships, and mental health, all factors shown to reduce reoffending.
Fairer Treatment
Long sentences or previous recalls should not automatically exclude people from being considered. These changes open up opportunities for many who were previously barred, giving them a chance to be assessed on their current risk and behaviour rather than past history alone. With proper risk assessments, this introduces more fairness into the system.
Cost & Resource Benefits
Prison space, medical services, staffing, and other resources are expensive. If more prisoners can be responsibly supervised in the community, there is potential for savings, or at least relief in these areas. Those resources can then be redirected to where they are most needed: serious offenders, rehabilitation programmes, mental health, etc.
Concerns & Why They Must Be Managed
We at Prisoner Rights Legal Services believe in this reform, but only if done carefully. Here are some of the concerns, and how they can (or must) be addressed:
• Risk to public safety: Public protection must remain central. Exclusions for certain offences, robust risk assessments, and monitoring with tag conditions are essential safeguards. The reforms keep these protections in place.
• Support infrastructure: It’s not enough to let someone out earlier. They need stable housing, probation support, mental health services, and address checks. Without this, early release may be ineffective or even harmful.
• Recalls for breaches: There must be timely and fair recall procedures. If someone breaks curfew or licence conditions, there needs to be a proportionate response.
• Transparency and oversight: We need clear data, published regularly, on how many are released under HDC, how many recalled, reoffending rates, and how this policy impacts victims.
Why We Support the Change – And Why You Should Too
For families of people in custody, for offenders themselves, and for society, these changes are a positive step. Here’s why:
• If your loved one is eligible, you may now see opportunities that weren’t there before. Someone serving a long sentence or previously recalled might now get a second chance via HDC.
• The stress, cost, and harm of long periods in prison may be reduced. Health risks, isolation, and mental health issues inside prison are serious, earlier supervised release can mitigate those.
• For communities, smoother reintegration can mean reduced reoffending. The more stable the support and structure provided during HDC, the lower the risk of someone committing further offences.
• For society overall: less overcrowding means safer prisons, better use of resources, and more room to focus on rehabilitation rather than crisis management.
How Prisoner Rights Legal Services Can Help
At Prisoner Rights Legal Services, we know navigating early release schemes like HDC can be confusing. We offer:
• Clear advice about eligibility under the new rules: Is your loved one now eligible? What factors will be considered?
• We prepare and lodge representations to Governors when someone is presumed unsuitable, because sometimes “exceptional circumstances” can make a difference.
• Help in understanding licence conditions, curfew requirements, and what happens if they are breached.
• Supporting you during recall processes, or appealing decisions that seem unfair or wrongly made.
We believe legal support ensures that people get what the law promises them, not what is merely assumed or arbitrarily denied.
This Reform Can Be Part of the Solution
The challenges facing our prison system are urgent: overcrowding, lack of resources, pressure on staff, deteriorating conditions, rising costs, and human suffering. The extension of the Home Detention Curfew’s maximum period from six to twelve months is not a panacea, but it is a meaningful piece of the solution.
These changes, properly implemented, can help:
• Reduce population pressure in our prisons;
• Give eligible prisoners a fair chance to reintegrate while still under supervision;
• Bring fairness to those previously excluded;
• Support public safety through risk-assessed release; and
• Relieve strain on the system so that other prison reforms (healthcare, rehabilitation, staff training) can follow.
At Prisoner Rights Legal Services, we welcome this reform. It aligns with our mission: justice, dignity, and fairness for those in custody, and support for their families.
If you want to explore whether someone you care about may now be eligible under these new rules, or would like us to submit hard hitting representations, contact us. Let us help turn legal change into real progress, for your loved one, and for all of us who believe in a just system.
