SHORT-TERM Scottish prisoners in their hundreds will be given early releases in a bid to tackle overcrowding.
The Prisoners (Early Release) (Scotland) Act, which came into effect last week, changes the release point for prisoners serving sentences of less than four years from 50% of their sentence to 40%.
It is estimated that 260-390 short-term prisoners who have served 40% of their time will be released by the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) in three batches.
The first lot will be released from Tuesday to Thursday, the second from March 4-6 and the third from March 18-20.
Those convicted of domestic abuse or sexual offences will not be released early under the changes.
The Scottish Government said it expects the change to bring about a 5% reduction in the sentenced prison population.
Last summer 477 convicts were freed during an early release programme in a bid to ease overcrowding, with 61 of them later returned to custody.
A report from late 2023 highlighted the “considerable risks” facing the SPS, with understaffing and overcrowding leading to services being overwhelmed.
The SPS said the maximum the current prison estate can accommodate is 8300, which includes the use of double cell occupancy. According to the latest figures from the SPS the number of prisoners is 8289.
Victims will be told automatically if there is a change to a prisoner’s release date in their case if they have signed up to the Victims Notification Scheme (VNS) Victims who are not signed up to the VNS are also able to contact the Scottish Prison Service directly to receive information.
Victims will also be able to nominate Victim Support Scotland, Rape Crisis Scotland, ASSIST or Children First to receive information about prisoner release on their behalf.
Justice Secretary Angela Constance said: “There’s no single bullet to reducing our very high prison population.
“There are a number of legislative measures that we have taken – some of which have been through necessity to release some short-term offenders earlier, but we also have bigger reforms in legislation around things like the bail and release act, the children in care and custody act, we no longer send under-18s to prison.
“If a deprivation of liberty is required they will have to go to secure accommodation. We continue to invest in community justice, so there are a range of actions that we have to continue with to reduce our prison population.”
