One in eight prisoners released early in Scotland expected to end up back behind bars - SNP minister
Hundreds of short-term prisoners are to be released early from today to help tackle chronic overcrowding
One in eight prisoners released early over the next six months could end up back behind bars for re-offending.
The first short-term prisoners to be released under new emergency legislation will be set free this week in a bid to tackle record-high numbers.
Between now and April, almost 1,000 inmates are due to be released early. Those serving sentences of less than four years will be eligible for this, although those sentenced for sexual offences or domestic abuse are excluded from the scheme.
Scotland’s prison population reached a record high of 8,431 on Wednesday last week. The prison estate is only designed to hold 7,805 people.
When Justice Secretary Angela Constance announced the planned wave of releases in October, ten prisons were classed as a “red risk” and ten were either on or over capacity. At the time, the prison population had also increased by 200 in the previous three months.
It is expected 139 prisoners will be released early this week. A total of 213 were eligible, but several have had their release blocked by what is known as the governor’s veto.
However, when asked how many of these prisoners would end up back in prison due to reoffending, the justice secretary pointed to the fact that 13 per cent of those released early in the spring are now back in custody.
In February and March, 300 prisoners were released early due to overcrowding.
Ms Constance told the BBC: “Previous experience tells us that the return-to-custody rate for the first early emergency release was 13 per cent and the return-to-custody rate for those released when we changed the law on short-term prisoners was 5 per cent.”
However, Ms Constance warned this was “not an exact comparison”.
She said she recognised releasing prisoners early would cause the public anxiety.
“I absolutely accept that early release will cause anxiety for some victims, there is no doubt about that,” she said.
“Those registered with the victim notification scheme will be advised of the release date and, for those not registered with the scheme, there are other routes to get that information if they wish, for example contacting the prison service directly or through a charity like Victim Support Scotland or Children 1st.”
Ms Constance’s comments come after the Scottish Prison Service admitted last week that 27 prisoners were mistakenly released from Scottish prisons in recent years.
The announcement came after police in England hunted down three prisoners mistakenly released from HMP Wandsworth.
The incorrectly released prisoners in Scotland included eight “liberations in error” in 2022/23, seven in 2023/24, nine in 2024/25 and three so far this financial year up to October 22.
Liam Kerr MSP, the Scottish Conservatives’ justice spokesman, said: “This is a dark day for public safety as yet more dangerous criminals are released back onto Scotland’s streets under the SNP’s watch.
“Scotland’s prison population crisis is entirely of the SNP’s own making with their catastrophic failure to build new prisons on time and on budget.
“The justice secretary has now admitted what we all know - that this latest round of releases will cause anxiety for victims. Worse still, she said she had no idea how many of these criminals were violent offenders.
“Not only does this continual knee-jerk response undermine judicial sentencing, but it’s also an abject betrayal of victims who still have no guarantees of being notified about the release of an offender.
“It’s simply common sense that prisoners should serve their sentences in full. However, under the soft-touch SNP, criminals are shamefully getting a free pass yet again whilst victims are left in the dark.”