MSPs back emergency release of inmates as prison population reaches record high

Scotland’s prison population reached a new record high on Wednesday as MSPs passed new regulations to free hundreds of offenders from jail early.

Justice Secretary Angela Constance said the regulations – which will see prisoners released in phases starting from next week – are “essential right now” and would provide “critical relief” from the problem of overcrowding.

She told MSPs: “It is my view that the legal test for emergency release has been met, and that these measures are necessary and proportionate to maintain the good order of our prisons.”

She said the emergency release of offenders would start to reduce the prison population – which reached 8,431 on Wednesday – “within days”.

Meanwhile, further releases, which will run until the end of April, will “help to maintain the effect”, Ms Constance added.

She spoke as Holyrood voted by 66 votes to 51 with five abstentions for regulations which will release prisoners early.

Convicts serving sentences of less than four years, who are within 180 days of their original release date can now be considered to be freed early.

However, the regulations make clear anyone serving a sentence for sexual offences or domestic abuse will not be eligible for early release – with prison governors also able to veto an inmate’s release if they believe them to pose a risk.

Approximately 440 prisoners could be released in the first three fortnightly tranches of releases which are due to take place this year, with the first scheduled for November 11.

Around 550 more offenders could be released over the remaining four monthly tranches from January to April 2026, with January likely to see the largest release.

Adding that the high prison population meant 10 of Scotland’s prisons are now at “red risk status”, the Justice Secretary told MSPs that “doing nothing is not an option”.

However, Scottish Conservative justice spokesperson Liam Kerr said the latest early release scheme from the Scottish Government was a “knee-jerk response to a wholly predictable crisis”.

While the Tory accepted prisons are “dangerously overcrowded” he insisted that “throwing open the gates and freeing criminals early is not the solution”.

Early release of offenders “does not address any of the root causes of the problem”, Mr Kerr added, noting that Scottish Prison Service statistics had shown 11 out of 17 jails were full again “mere days after the previous early release programme”.

Instead he argued that the scheme “just exposes the public to risk, with data showing high levels of reoffending by previous early release prisoners”.

He argued that early release “makes a mockery of our justice system” and “weakens” the deterrent of prison sentences, while sending “precisely the wrong message to victims and communities”.

Mr Kerr stated: “Public confidence in Scotland’s criminal justice system is being eroded with these measures.”