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Prison reform: Scottish Government abolishes automatic early release scheme



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THE automatic early release of prisoners from Scotland's jails will be abolished, First Minister Alex Salmond said today.
Mr Salmond pledged his administration would end the scheme when he appeared at First Minister's Questions in the Scottish Parliament.

Tory leader Annabel Goldie had raised the issue with him after a sheriff claimed the system had rendered decision
s on sentences "largely meaningless".

Today Mr Salmond said: "There is now a substantial consensus that automatic early release should end, and it will end."

Former First Minister Henry McLeish is currently examining the issue of prisons and sentencing.

And Mr Salmond added: "It will end as part of the wider review of penal policy being conducted by the independent commission led by Henry McLeish."

Miss Goldie had highlighted concerns raised by Sheriff Kevin Drummond, who hit out after a man set free after serving less than a third of a 16 month jail sentence re-offended soon after.

She told MSPs the sheriff had launched a "blistering attack on Scottish Government policy that allows early release of prisoners".

The Tory leader then quoted the sheriff, who said: "I would be failing in my duty if I did not make it clear that in my opinion judicial disposals are largely meaningless and the system is being brought into disrepute."

Miss Goldie added: "There we have it from the bench, confirmation that we live in the SNP's soft touch Scotland."

She went on to claim Sheriff Drummond's remarks revealed "a frustrated and angry judiciary, which is seeing its custodial sentencing policy undermined by the SNP's soft touch on early release".

The Conservative hit out and said: "Early release is being seen for the nonsense it is and rightly attacked from all quarters.

"Is the First Minister seriously prepared to limp on with this SNP soft touch policy of releasing more and more convicts into the community rather than keeping prisoners in prison.

"Why is the Scottish Government unrelenting in standing up for criminals when it should be standing up for victims? Enough is enough."

Mr Salmond told her again: "We are going to bring the end of automatic early release."

He pointed out the changes his administration planned were "changes that are going to be introduced to measures that were introduced largely by the Conservative government of the 1990s".

And he urged Miss Goldie to have "an element of memory and history about who brought us into this position in the first place".



The full article contains 417 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 22 May 2008 1:38 PM
  • Source: The Scotsman
  • Location: Edinburgh
  • Related Topics: Scottish prisons
 
1

Hebb,

Scotia 22/05/2008 14:51:54
Goldie would be better off apologising to the Scottish people for her party's introduction of automatic early release in the first place. Talk about a brass neck. Next she'll be blaming the SNP for other Unionist dividends such the squandering over decades of Scotland's oil wealth, the privatisation of our railways, the Council Tax, abolishing student grants, PFI/PPP and last but not least the War on Iraq.
2

DesertRatNM,

NM USA 22/05/2008 15:13:23
Sounds as if you have the same problems with prisons as we do. We could save tons of money if we just went back to two forms of punishment - flogging and hanging.
3

W U Merchant,

Aberdeen 22/05/2008 15:49:11
Well done Alex. Where are you going to build the new prisons? Not in my back yard I hope.
4

W Smith,

Middle East 22/05/2008 16:00:36
Annabel Goldie - by far the smartest woman in Holyrood.

Although that's not difficult.

#1
Brian Soutar's Stagecoach made his millions from Maggie privatising public transport as did First Group.

So the SNP will refuse further donations in the future from Soutar then?
5

FS,

Stirling 22/05/2008 16:09:19
Good to hear. If someone is found guilty by fair proceedings of a crime then they should expect to do the time set. The correct decision.
6

A Better Way,

Edinburgh 22/05/2008 16:36:10
Now all we need is all you unionists telling your London Masters to give back Scotlands share of the 1.2 billion emergency funding that Brown took illegally to build ENGLISH PRISONS just 11 weeks ago. Under the Barnett Rules, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland were to be given a share as well. With Scotland entitled to 10%, which Brown and Darling decided to keep to buy votes in middle England. Isnt it time for some of you right wing Unionists to start sending demands for our £120 million, so we can build even more prisons so that you can hang draw and quarter little animals and the likes.

Why is Scotland subsidising London?. 120 million to build english prisons, 30 million given back by Wee Jockee whilst Scottish Pensioners lost out, 1.5 billion Wee Jockeee gave back to his masters down south, The 500 million paid out to New Slavours big banker mates who wrote their own cheques on PFI, by the way the 500 million that comes out of our just under 9 billion play money from our English Masters. Next year that 500 million becomes 800 million pounds in repayments New Slavour left Scotland with.

Never mind everyone, it only lines up to be 22 billion pounds debt from Wee Jockeee and his Masters Down South. Imagine the Brown envelopes flying around in the west of Scotland.
7

Bemused and above it all,

22/05/2008 17:14:41
penal servitude is the only way forward!
8

steve52,

Kinfauns 22/05/2008 17:46:40
Until criminal justice especially sentencing policy stops being nothing more than a political football nothing will ever change. The Sheriff quoted is talking out his backside. When a judge passes sentence he automatically takes into account the actual time a prisoner will serve. If the sheriff moans at a prisoner being released early then that is a direct consequence of HIS poor understanding of the early release system and HIS poor sentencing policy.

Making headlines should not be a factor in this argument. While in prison a prisoner has to behave him or her self as the time allowed off for automatic release is in fact time off for good behaviour. Prison authorities do take time off this for any prisoner who has, for example, broken prison rules. Every prison then has its own standing orders which do not have the full force of law but none the leass are used to punish prisoner. For instance if a warder tells a prisoner to take his hands out of his pockets and the prisoner refuses he can and most likely would lose 7 days remission. There are a long list of petty rules which can cost a prisoner remission, rules incidentally which the prisoner is not permitted to read. That is of course if he or she can read in the first place.

Prisons are not what some of the gutter press say they are not by a long chalk.

The thing is that prisoners like anyone else in life require an insentive and the insentive to do better and get out quicker is to behave and where ever possible rehabillitate ones self.

As Malcom Rifkind said in the preface of the last real study into our prisons....they are nothing more than places of confinement...... All this talk of rehabillitation is pure hogwash as it simply does not take place owing to the cut backs introduced by the Conservative Government in the 80's. These cut backs covered everything from education to soap for washing. Staff numbers were reduced as were social workers, and teachers.

Finally. I would bet that there would
9

Hebb,

Scotia 22/05/2008 18:19:14
#4 wrote:
"Annabel Goldie - by far the smartest woman in Holyrood."

Her usual tweed two-pieces are quite fetching, I agree, if a little dated. Wendy's designer clown garb always catches the eye but she has a fashion rival in Karen Gillon, who favours Tisos' latest all weather outfits (with matching pegs of course). Nicola Sturgeon keeps it simple but floors the Unionist opposition with her independent-minded, no-nonsense approach to workwear of power suits for the woman in power. Ok, as for their intelligence, it's obvious that Wendy has the largest brain but it's clear that the strings running through it get in the way of its proper functioning. Once she cuts those and speaks with her own voice I'm sure she'll do fine. Well, maybe not THAT voice.

As for Brian Souter, if it's ok for Tories, Labour and Liberals to take donations off an assortment of big business donors, dodgy dealing multi-millionaires, fraudsters and Jersey based financiers then I'm sure you'll forgive the SNP if it accepts the occasional bit of funding from a bible bashing bus operator.


10

bring them on,

22/05/2008 22:13:28
Kenny Clark should hang his head in shame.

Novo won the ball cleanly, and the red card decision was confirmation that it is time for him to hang up his black hood.

 

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