Nearly 60 criminals freed early from Scottish jails under early release scheme have reoffended and are back behind bars

Nearly 60 criminals who were freed early from Scottish jails under early release scheme have reoffended and are back behind bars.

A total of 477 inmates were let off with shorter sentences this summer after the Scottish Government enacted emergency laws to ease pressure on Scotland’s dangerously full prisons.

But it has since emerged that 57 of these prisoners have been sent back to jail after committing further crimes. 

Prisoners serving short sentences of under four years who had 180 days or less left to serve were considered for release. 

Those serving life sentences or guilty of sexual, domestic abuse or terror-based offences, were automatically excluded.

Nearly 60 criminals who were freed early from Scottish jails under early release scheme have reoffended and are back behind bars (Stock image) 

A Scottish Prison Service (SPS) spokesperson said: ‘We have been open and transparent throughout, publishing the number of individuals released at each stage, followed by a series of breakdowns.

‘The latest publication on returns to custody continues this approach.’

In May, justice minister Angela Constance insisted that the new early release scheme would see victims protected by a range of notification schemes.

However, Victim Support Scotland said last month that fewer than 20 people were informed through the victim notification scheme that offenders in their cases were being freed early. 

It condemned the lack of action taken to ensure that victims were informed, despite the potential risk to their safety. 

The Scottish Government has said victims of crime who were signed up to notification schemes were automatically notified of the early release of a prisoner in connection with their case.

But Kate Wallace, chief executive of Victim Support Scotland, said: ‘Victims had to come forward. They were not proactively (contacted).

Kate Wallace, chief executive of Victim Support Scotland said last month that fewer than 20 people were informed through the victim notification scheme that offenders in their cases were being freed early

‘The members of the victim notification scheme, as far as I understand it, was less than 20 people. It shows you there is a really poor uptake to the victim notification scheme.

‘There was an independent review published over a year ago and we are still waiting on Scottish Government to respond to that. They need to do that urgently because that scheme is not fit for purpose, it is very clear in that independent review that it is not and it requires significant overhaul.

‘The onus was on victims to come forward and ask and many of them – the vast majority of them – were not aware that was the situation they were in and they couldn’t remember if they were members of the victim notification scheme or not.

‘In some cases, it has been many years since they signed up to that scheme or not and were asked about it and it is at the most traumatising period that they are asked at the moment. That really does have to change going forward.’

Last month, John Swinney said the early release of 477 prisoners has not solved the problems facing Scotland’s overcrowded jails and that further action is now being considered.

Ms Wallace said the proposal was always a ‘short term fix’ but said she was ‘very disappointed’ that it had done so little to tackle the problem.

She said that lessons have not been learned from the early release of prisoners during the Covid pandemic, when 40 per cent of those released reoffended within six months.