Following successful trials of electronic monitoring as a community sentence, the Home Detention Curfew scheme was introduced in England and Wales in January 1999. Eligible prisoners can be released up to 60 days before the end of the custodial part of their sentences. More than 16,000 offenders have been released into Home Detention Curfew, and the scheme has operated largely as planned. Ninety-five percent of prisoners released into the program have completed their curfew successfully, with only 5 percent being recalled to prison. The most common reason for recall was a failure to comply with the curfew conditions. Very few prisoners were recalled to prison because they posed a risk of serious harm to the public. Rates of release into the program for white and black prisoners were similar; for Asian and other ethnic groups the release rates were slightly higher. There were relatively few problems with the program’s operation, apart from difficulties resulting from the tight timelines of prison and probation staff in assessing prisoners’ suitability for release into the program. Figures, table, references