Introduction

The home detention order was introduced in 1999 and is administered by the Community Probation Service (CPS). Eligible offenders serve part or all of their prison sentence at an approved residential address under strict electronic monitoring. The data analysed below was extracted from the IOMS database and relates to 23 November 2003. Note that this is three days later than the prison census date. On that date 595 offenders were completing sentences of home detention, twenty percent of whom were female, a proportion considerably higher than applies to the sentenced inmate population.