Tories will not back prisoner releases
THE Scottish Tories will vote against Scottish Government plans to release prisoners early to ease pressure on the prison estate, the party has said.
Justice Secretary Angela Constance told MSPS this week of the proposals, in response to a spike of 400 prisoners between March 18 and Thursday.
The increase, she said, left ministers with “no choice but to act if we are to avoid an unprecedented crisis developing”.
Ms Constance said she would bring proposals to Holyrood in the coming weeks, with those serving sentences of less than four years being eligible.
Under the terms of the Bail and Release from Custody (Scotland) Act – which allows for the emergency release of prisoners to preserve the “security and good order” of the estate – prisoners sentenced to life, those who have not been tried, or anyone convicted of a terror-related, sexual or domestic violence offence are not eligible for early release.
Scottish Tory justice spokesman Russell Findlay said his party would not back the plans, amid fears of a risk to public safety.
He said: “If the SNP government set free hundreds of prisoners before they’ve done their time, it will put public safety at risk, with high rates of re-offending, as happened during the pandemic. Crime victims already feel let down by soft-touch sentencing and this would be compounded by artificially reducing the time a judge has decided that criminals should spend behind bars. The SNP are wringing their hands and talking about a crisis. But it is a crisis of their making, primarily by failing to build vital new prisons on time.”
There have been delays to the building of HMP Glasgow and HMP Highland. The design for the new Barlinnie will be available in summer, later than the April date previously stated.