Prisoners 'to be chipped like dogs'

Hi-tech 'satellite' tagging planned in order to create more space in jails 
Civil rights groups and probation officers furious at 'degrading' scheme

By Brian Brady, Whitehall Editor
Published: 13 January 2008

Ministers are planning to implant "machine-readable" microchips
under the skin of thousands of offenders as part of an expansion of the
electronic tagging scheme that would create more space in British jails.

Amid concerns about the security of existing tagging systems and prison
overcrowding, the Ministry of Justice is investigating the use of satellite

and radio-wave technology to monitor criminals.

But, instead of being contained in bracelets worn around the ankle, the
tiny chips would be surgically inserted under the skin of offenders in the
community, to help enforce home curfews.

The radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, as long as two grains of
rice, are able to carry scanable personal information about individuals,
including their identities, address and offending
record.

[...]

Full article at "The Independent" - UK 
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article3333852.ece

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