Long-term prisoners in Scotland are set to be released after serving two thirds of their sentence under SNP plans to reduce overcrowding.
The Scottish government has been wrestling with a rising prison population in recent months, with more than 8,300 inmates in jails as of May this year — a rise of about 400 in two months.
A programme of early release is under way for more than 500 of those serving custodial sentences.
But announcing the move this year, the justice secretary Angela Constance said more was needed to reduce the population over the long term.
In a consultation, published on Monday, the government has now proposed prisoners be released under licence after serving two thirds of their sentence; this would be a return to the policy from before February 2016.
Advertisement
Currently, prisoners are eligible to be released under licence six months from the end of their sentence.
Explaining the rationale for releasing inmates after serving two thirds of their sentence, the consultation says some could benefit from additional time under supervision out in the community before their sentence ends.
“A longer period of time in the community can allow for a person to be more effectively tested and monitored to address certain identified risks,” it adds. “Additional time may also help to better support their successful reintegration and reduce their risk of future reoffending”.
The proposal would not apply to extended sentence prisoners — where a court enforces a period in prison followed by supervision after release — and those sentenced in relation to certain terrorism related offences.
Constance said: “We are considering these measures to find a better balance between the time spent in custody and time supervised in the community, particularly following the recent increase in the prison population when Scotland already has one of the highest in western Europe.
Advertisement
“Public safety will be paramount. Release under licence conditions means strict community supervision and specific support in place informed by robust individual risk assessments of prisoners.
The proposals came as a man who assaulted a sheriff from the dock by throwing a packet of crisps at him was jailed for 16 months.
Stephen Bottley, 45, hurled the snack at Sheriff Barry Divers in Glasgow sheriff court on November 1 2023. The offender was enraged after Divers sent him to prison for 17 months for spitting on a court employee in November 2022.
He initially challenged Divers after he passed sentence and told him that he was going to get “slashed”. Bottley then took the crisp packet out of his pocket and chucked it at him, almost making contact. Bottley pleaded guilty at Glasgow sheriff court to assaulting Divers.
Divers concluded the matter Bottley appeared on and gave him a prison sentence. In response Bottley shouted: “Is that all you can do, jail people?”
Advertisement
Responding to the proposal to release prisoners after serving two thirds of their sentence a Scottish Tory spokesman said: “The SNP want to release dangerous criminals who have served just two thirds of their sentence which, if enacted, would pose a serious risk to public safety.
“The fact that these plans are even being proposed is systematic of the SNP’s failure to invest in our prison estate which is crumbling at the seams.
“The needs of criminals have yet again been put above the needs of victims in the SNP’s justice system.”
The Scottish Lib Dem justice spokesman Liam McArthur said the issues facing the prison system were a “mess of the SNP’s own making”.
• Early prison releases put abuse victims in danger, ministers told
Advertisement
“On their watch we’ve seen the prison population spiral out of control, dangerous levels of overcrowding and cuts to schemes that would have helped people avoid reoffending,” he added.
The consultation will close on August 19. The plans come as the Scottish government released statistics showing an increase in the re-conviction rate in 2020-21 compared with the previous year.
The figures show a 2.6 percentage point rise to 26.9 per cent, while the average number of re-convictions per offender increased by 8 percentage points.