According to the Justice Secretary, plans to reform the prison system may require offenders to complete their terms at home rather than in a prison.In an effort to develop fresh approaches to punishing criminals and managing overcrowded jails, Shabana Mahmood is scheduled to unveil a comprehensive review of sentencing on Tuesday.Technology like as tagging might be used to build virtual prisons where criminals are detained in the comfort of their own homes. Additional technologies are also being investigated, like smart wristwatches that "nudge" criminals to schedule appointments for mental health or probationary services. Prison is necessary, according to Ms. Mahmood, but in order to stop ministers from being pressured to release inmates early from custody, the government "must increase the range of punishments we use."Currently, after they have served some of their sentence in prison, offenders can be monitored using tags to keep track of curfews, their location or to monitor alcohol consumption by measuring the wearer’s sweat. Following the review, electronic monitoring could be used more widely with judges able to sentence offenders to house arrest.Officials are also looking at copying Texas’s prison reforms that allow prisoners to earn credits for good behaviour or for taking part in courses such as drug programmes to reduce their time in jail.Ms Mahmood said: "We have an opportunity now to reshape and redesign what punishment outside of a prison looks like. I believe in punishment. I believe in prison, but I also believe that we must increase the range of punishments we use.“And that those prisoners who earn the right to turn their lives around should be encouraged to do so. The Sentencing Review will make sure prison and punishment work - and that there is always a cell waiting for dangerous offenders.”

Speaking about different forms of punishment, she said: "Theoretically a judge could hand down a sentence of house arrest. I'm sure the review is going to want to look at all the different mechanisms that are out there to monitor offenders in the community, to supervise them effectively and then also to nudge their behaviour towards a rehabilitation activity that we know reduces re-offending.”The Justice Secretary was forced to announce an early release scheme just days after being elected in July, as free jail spaces plummeted to under 100 this summer. It comes as another 1,100 prisoners will be released early on Tuesday after around 1,700 were let out early last month. The early release scheme was expected to buy 12 months before prison space ran out again - but this was cut to nine months after scores of people were jailed during the summer riots. Prisons are now set to reach breaking point again next summer.While the Labour government has pledged to deliver 14,000 new prison places, the jail population is expected to increase by 4,500 offenders a year over the coming years. The launching of the sentencing review marks a shift away from prison expansion to focus on wider issues facing the criminal justice system.

Evidence already suggests short sentences don’t work, with more than half of adults released from prison sentences of less than 12 months going on to reoffend. It is understood the review will consider scrapping short sentences of less than six months.