Plans to use electronic tagging in place of prison are likely to be abandoned if they fail to get majority support in the senate, the Telegraaf reports on Tuesday.

The paper says junior justice minister Fred Teeven would appear to be unwilling to do anything to ensure the ankle monitoring system becomes law. The Telegraaf bases its claims on sources in The Hague.

Teeven’s plans to slash spending on prisons involved giving a large number of criminals an ankle monitoring bracelet as they neared the end of their sentence.

Beer

However, Teeven has never been keen on electronic tagging and has said before he became a minister that he sees no benefit in letting people sit out their sentences ‘in front of the tv with a beer’.

The reforms have been approved in the lower house of parliament but are likely to run into trouble in the upper house, where the coalition government does not have a majority.

Yet Teeven has made no effort to try and get another party to support his plans, the Telegraaf says. Legal experts have also criticised the electronic tagging plans.

The move is one of a package of measures to cut €340m from the prison spending budget. The reforms also include a proposal to make prisoners pay towards their upkeep.