OUR MSPs in the Scottish Parliament, poor souls, had to work a bit of overtime on Tuesday night in order to debate and eventually pass the Prisoners Early Release (Scotland) Bill stages two and three. They were debated in rapid succession in order to ensure an early Christmas present of freedom in the New Year for hundreds of convicted criminals. The fact that Scotland’s prisons are bursting at the seams has apparently become a very urgent problem which the government has only relatively recently become aware of.
A total 477 prisoners were freed under an emergency early release scheme in June as a bid to address overcrowding. Some 648 short-term prisoners met the criteria in terms of time served and type of sentence.
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But prison governors stepped in to block the release of 171 prisoners of the total under a safeguard that was introduced which allowed them to stop anyone being freed who they regarded as presenting “an immediate risk”. Sadly this safeguard is not included in the new legislation so one must assume these 171 could be packing their bags and heading home fairly soon.
The estimated cost of this latest early release scheme is around £2,000,000.
Scottish ministers launched the temporary emergency early release scheme over the summer, apparently to ease overcrowding and to support the safe operations of prisons, and protect the health, safety and welfare of prisoners and prison staff. I have to pose the obvious question. Who, in this process, considers the health, safety and welfare of the general public?
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It must be very frustrating for the police officers who originally apprehended these criminals only to see them “back out on the street”, some committing more crimes. Do the Scottish Government in general, and the Justice Secretary Angela Constance in particular, not spare even a brief thought for the victims of crime who are seriously short-changed by these early release schemes?
The Association of Scottish Police Superintendents said the new legislation would see the public “being put at risk”. Its president, Chief Superintendent Rob Hay, said: “Every crime committed and every victim who suffered at the hands of those criminals represents an avoidable consequence of this misguided Scottish Government policy.
“To release prisoners early, knowing further offending is likely to occur, piles pressure on a police service already stretched to breaking under unsustainable demand.”
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Of the 477 prisoners released in June, 57 swiftly reoffended. Others probably did but were lucky enough not to be caught. Presumably in our local communities there are now, at the very least, 57 victims of the re-offenders released in June. There will soon be many other victims of the many more prisoners to be released under this new legislation.
Our SNP government managed to get the bill passed, with the support of the Greens, by 67 votes to 54. At the end of proceedings many MSPs applauded enthusiastically. I don’t see what there was to applaud about.
MSPs who voted for this bill should think long and hard on the certainty that some of the victims of this legislation will be their constituents and if they are really unlucky, will be their friends, colleagues, workmates, staff, family members – or even themselves.
In Scotland, criminal justice is swiftly becoming justice only for criminals.
Glenda Burns
Glasgow
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