Violent and sexual offenders released from prison in England and Wales could be confined to areas just a few miles wide under plans trailed by the Ministry of Justice overnight, with victims given a say in where the boundaries are drawn.
The measure, first reported by Sky News on Friday night, would toughen the existing system of exclusion zones, which bar offenders from named locations such as a victim's home or workplace. Restriction zones invert that logic, confining the offender to an agreed area rather than keeping them out of specific streets. The Mirror has reported that the rollout is set for October, a date not yet confirmed by the department.
Justice Secretary Alex Norris said victims should not have to alter their lives to avoid the people who harmed them.
"I'm determined that no victim should have to look over their shoulder, change their routine, or live in fear of crossing paths with the person who harmed them," he said. "We're introducing tough new restrictions on sexual and violent offenders, confining them to areas just a few miles wide and using GPS technology to monitor their movements. It's simple: offenders should carry the consequences of their crimes, not their victims."
The announcement lands days before Prime Minister Andy Burnham is due to present the outcome of his review into the early prisoner release scheme, when Parliament returns from recess on 1 September. Burnham paused September releases within days of taking office, and on 3 and 4 August the government excluded rape, serious child sexual offences and grooming from the changes — reducing the cohort from around 6,000 offenders to roughly 5,000, released in 10 batches from October.
Restriction zones are not themselves new. The policy was announced by the then victims minister Alex Davies-Jones on 8 August 2025, framed at the time as a measure for women and girls affected by domestic abuse, and legislated for in the Sentencing Act 2026, which received Royal Assent on 22 January. Section 17 of the Act defines a restriction zone requirement as an obligation to remain in one or more specified areas for a period of up to two years, and requires courts imposing one to attach electronic monitoring.
What appears new in Friday's trail is the scale — zones "a few miles" wide — the October start date, and an explicit commitment that boundaries will be drawn so offenders can still reach appointments and services intended to reduce reoffending. None of those three points has yet appeared in a gov.uk release. It is also unclear whether the October zones will be imposed as licence conditions on release or as court-ordered requirements, and whether the two-year statutory cap applies.
The consequences of a breach are similarly unsettled. The Ministry of Justice has previously described breaches as triggering recall to prison, while the Victims' Commissioner's office said in 2025 that offenders could face up to five years.
The plan rests on electronic monitoring capacity that the National Audit Office criticised in July. Its report found that between August 2024 and July 2025 individuals were not tagged on time and officials were not notified of potential breaches promptly, with a backlog of tagging visits peaking at 7,000 in October 2024. In February 2026, contractor Serco met its 95% timeliness target for visits but successfully fitted tags on only 62% of individuals seen within two attempts. As of March 2026, HM Prison and Probation Service was reviewing around 8,900 cases of people recorded as having an active monitoring order but no tag.
Probation union Napo has warned that workloads already pose "a direct risk to the public". Shadow Justice Secretary Nick Timothy has said the government's changes to early release do not go far enough. Polling by Ipsos for LBC this month found 69% of people oppose the early-release policy, up from 53% two years ago.
Join the Discussion
Have something to say? Join the conversation!
Sign in to share your thoughts and engage with other readers.
Sign In Create AccountNo comments yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this article!