SCOTLAND’S early prisoner release scheme lacks transparency and is sometimes misunderstood by judges and legal professionals, a senior judge said yesterday.
Lord Macfadyen, chairman of the Sentencing Commission for Scotland, was opening a public debate on the topic.
Last week Jack McConnell, the First Minister, came under fire from Tories who said that he had incorrectly suggested to Parliament that ministers had promised to end the automatic early release of sex offenders jailed for less than four years.
Cathy Jamieson, Scotland’s Justice Minister, had told MSPs that she would change the law to make short-term prisoners jailed for sex crimes subject to licence conditions on early release — despite commission concerns that offenders should be treated equally.
Yesterday Lord Macfadyen said that the law governing early release and any supervision in the community was complex, adding: “It is a source of controversy, deriving to some extent from its lack of transparency, with the consequence that individuals, including judges and others within the criminal justice system, just do not understand how some aspects of it operate.”
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The challenge for the commission, he said, was to “produce a just, fair, efficient and effective system that is readily understood by everyone”.
At present short-term prisoners are freed automatically at the halfway point of a jail term, in the vast majority of cases without conditions.
Lord Macfadyen said that the consultation paper was being issued to criminal justice organisations but the commission was anxious to hear from the general public. The consultation ends on September 30.