Holyrood votes to end automatic early release for long-term prisoners

The Scottish government has ended automatic early release for long-term prisoners.

The Prisoners (Control of Release) (Scotland) Bill was passed by 67-0 in the Scottish Parliament yesterday, with 46 abstentions.

Under the new laws, no long-term prisoner in Scotland will be eligible for automatic release after two thirds of their sentence and there will now be a mandatory six-month period of supervision for the most serious of offenders.

Justice Secretary Michael Matheson said the bill would help create “a more balanced justice system” in Scotland.

He added: “Today’s decision means that long-term prisoners who pose an unacceptable risk to public safety will now serve their entire sentence in custody, and is a huge step in the right direction to end the system we inherited.”

Labour MSPs abstained from the final vote after failing to amend the bill in order to give courts power to extend the supervision period beyond six months.

Under the bill, a person who receives a 12-year sentence with no extended sentence will be released if they are still in custody after 11 years and six months.

However, under Labour’s amended version, a court would have been able to decide at the point of sentence to order their release from any point after 10 years and six months into the sentence.

The Law Society of Scotland issued a warning on Monday, saying it agreed that for some long-term prisoners, six months could be a “wholly inadequate length of time to facilitate a successful reintegration into society”.

Speaking in the Scottish Parliament debating chamber, Mr Matheson argued: “We consider that the length of the mandatory supervision period should be six months.

“MSPs will be aware that a considerable amount of work goes on inside prisons to plan for the release of long-term prisoners.

“That includes a comprehensive home background report being prepared for each long-term prisoner, with criminal justice social work being directly involved inside the prison to consider the long-term prisoner’s needs as they become eligible for consideration for release.

“That work seeks to ensure that the prisoner is as ready as they can be for release, through consideration of issues such as housing, welfare and work needs, given that those are key issues to address in order to achieve a successful reintegration into the community.

“Keeping that in mind, we think that the minimum period of supervision that is necessary for a prisoner who has served close to four years, as compared with a prisoner leaving after, say, eight years in custody, is likely to be similar, given that both sentences are long periods of time to be incarcerated and that additional preparatory work is done while the individual is in prison.”

Douglas Thomson, solicitor advocate and member of the Law Society of Scotland’s Criminal Law Committee, said: “Following the passing of the bill, it will be very important to make sure that sufficient resources are put in place to ensure that the risk of reoffending can be reduced through both the increased provision of relevant offence-focused work in custody and a properly funded rehabilitation programme. This will also need to be followed by proper support for released prisoners during their reintegration into the community.

“Once introduced, the effects of the legislation should be closely monitored to ensure that the bill’s aims of enhancing public protection and properly rehabilitating ex-prisoners continue to be met.”