Governors in Wales and England have warned that prisons could run out of capacity in a matter of days, causing a crisis in jails across the United Kingdom.
In an attempt to address the problem, the SNP administration in Edinburgh is letting more than 500 Scottish prisoners serving short terms walk free early as of this morning.
Over the next few weeks, inmates who have served less than four years in jail and have 180 days or fewer remaining in their sentence will be released in waves from all Scottish prisons.
Among those exempt are sex offenders and domestic abusers; governors have the power to overrule this.
According to the charity Victim Support Scotland, the current system is likely to result in reoffending.
“The last time this happened, over 40% had re-offended within six months,” stated Kate Wallace, the organization’s CEO. That resulted in other casualties, and we fully anticipate that to happen once more.
The victims are worried about the dangers to their physical safety, and we already know that some convicts have communicated with them, threatening to release them, and that this is being done as a kind of coercive control.”
Scotland’s prison population of about 8,300 inmates exceeds the 8,007 target operating capacity.
