Thug freed early under scheme is back in prison after just 12 hours

A prisoner freed under a controversial early release scheme had to be returned to jail 12 hours later after carrying out an assault.

The man was freed, it is claimed, with only a few days’ notice, before assaulting a neighbour and being returned to custody.

Now pressure has mounted on the Scottish Government over its scheme, after it emerged more than a quarter of eligible inmates had to be denied freedom because of the risk they posed.

Hundreds of prisoners were released before the end of their sentences to ease overcrowding in jails. 

But it has emerged prison governors stepped in to veto the release of 171 of the 648 eligible inmates because they were a risk to the public or themselves.

Yesterday ministers were accused of ‘recklessness’ over the early release scheme and were urged to ‘crack on’ with the construction of new prisons.

A charity supporting the victims of crime has also called for a ‘rethink’ of the policy, it was reported by justice and social affairs magazine 1919.

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Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Liam Kerr said: ‘These astonishing stats lay bare the recklessness of the SNP’s early release scheme. The SNP should apply some common sense and crack on with delivering the long overdue new prisons in Glasgow and the Highlands which are essential to tackling the prison population crisis.’

Scotland’s prison estate has a target capacity of 8,007 but there have been periods with more than 8,300 inmates being held.

There are fears that more than 9,000 people could be incarcerated by January, and concerns have been raised about the impact on rehabilitation. 

Under the scheme, only prisoners with 180 days or fewer left of a sentence of under four years can be considered for early release.

Prison governors can block the release of individual inmates, and criminals convicted of sexual offences or domestic abuse are not eligible to be let out early.

Of the 477 freed between June and July, 57 were back behind bars within weeks and 12 of those were free for ten days or fewer.

Malcom Paul, mentoring services manager at Heavy Sound, which operates a prison-based programme, said sufficient support on the outside is essential to help prisoners reintegrate.

He told 1919 that one man he was helping was freed a week before his planned release date, leaving insufficient time to put the required support in place for him when he got out.

Mr Paul said the man ‘ended up assaulting one of his neighbours and was back in prison within 12 hours’.

Victim Support Scotland also said ‘adequate preparation, rehabilitation and access to support services’ need to be in place before criminals are freed.

A Scottish Prison Service spokesman said: ‘We always work hard to support people in their journey towards release.’

A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘We worked closely with the Scottish Prison Service, and other partners to ensure that appropriate pre-release planning took place.’