Tagged criminals may be tracked by GPS satellite 24 hours a day Crispin Blunt, the justice minister, said the possibilities for how offenders can be monitored in the future was "extremely exciting." Increased use of tagging raises the prospect of more criminals being handed community orders instead of being jailed. In an interview with this newspaper, Mr Blunt said: "This is a very opportune moment, with the review of community sentences. We have already taken the powers to extend curfew and monitoring very significantly from 12 to 16 [hours a day] and from six months to a year [the length for which a curfew can run]. But obviously it is inconceivable that in re-procuring the monitoring contract that we are going to limit ourselves to technology of seven years ago. What is available to go in to the mix for the next monitoring contract in terms of what technically is available is extremely exciting. It is going to provide a significant number of new options and particularly extend the ability of community sentences to monitor in terms of protecting the public. At any one time, there are some 21,000 offenders electronically monitored, or "tagged." Of those, some 57 per cent are serving community sentences, 29 per cent are on bail awaiting trial, and 14 per cent are prisoners out on early release programmes. Since electronic tagging was introduced, some 675,000 offenders or bailed suspects have been monitored. Hertfordshire Police has already trialled satellite tracking on a number of offenders, while the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust has used the technology to monitor patients released from psychiatric units. Mr Blunt said no firm plans had been drawn up and various "legal issues" needed to be ironed out. A Whitehall source added that the potential impact for the criminal justice system could be "enormous" but ministers wanted to move forward "with caution."