Inmates enjoy 60,000 days’ leave from jail
... as killer who should have been in prison faces life for frenzied attack
PRISONERS enjoyed nearly 60,000 days of home leave during the past three years.
In almost 130 cases there were breaches of licence conditions that included prisoners reoffending, new figures show.
The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) statistics came as it emerged that a convicted murderer who tried to kill a dog walker with a dumbbell while he was on home leave could be facing a form of life sentence.
Robbie McIntosh, 31, attacked Linda McDonald in August this year before dragging her from a path in woods in Dundee.
He was jailed for life in 2002 for stabbing a dog walker to death on the city’s Law Hill, when he was aged 15.
At the time of the latest attack, McIntosh was to be considered for parole and had been allowed home leave in preparation.
Last night Scottish Tory justice spokesman Liam Kerr said: ‘Home release can be a useful part of rehabilitation, but the public would be surprised at how widely used it is.’
The SPS figures show there were 17,186 days of home leave in 2016-17 involving 452 prisoners, and 58,120 altogether since 2014-15.
The total number of breaches of home leave since 2014 is 129.
Most of the home leave in 2016-17 – 15,880 days – was granted for prisoners at Castle Huntly open prison, near Dundee, with the rest for other jails including Cornton Vale women’s prison in Stirling (528 days).
The SPS said the majority of incidents ‘related to breaches of licence conditions while on home leave’.
A response to a freedom of information request said: ‘Each breach would have been considered by the local risk management team to determine the seriousness… and any actions required to mitigate any repeat breaches.’
The figures emerged as advocate depute Iain McSporran, QC, introduced a motion at the High Court in Glasgow for a risk assessment to be carried out for McIntosh, ahead of a possible Order for Lifelong Restriction.
OLRs are designed for serious offenders who serve a minimum ‘punishment’ part of their sentence in jail but are also monitored under a lifelong ‘risk management plan’.
Judge Lord Arthurson said he had ‘grave concerns… about the level of risk presented by Mr McIntosh’. He made the risk assessment order and continued the case until February.
Mrs McDonald’s husband Matthew has previously condemned the decision to grant McIntosh leave. He said: ‘On August 7 a horrific and violent attack on my wife turned our family’s life upside down. Given his past conviction for a brutal murder I can’t believe the SPS deemed that this sick individual was allowed to be in the public domain.’
In a statement, Mrs McDonald’s family called on the SPS and Parole Board for Scotland to examine their criteria for release and assessment.
The court heard that Mrs McDonald, 52, thought she was going to die and has not been able to work since the attack.
The SPS said it did not comment on individual cases, but ‘a rigorous risk assessment is undertaken prior to any offender being granted home leave’.
McIntosh pleaded guilty to the latest charge earlier this year. He had previously been sentenced to a minimum of 15 years after being found guilty of stabbing civil servant Anne Nicoll 29 times in 2001.
He was given leave on August 2 this year, the 16th anniversary of the murder. He attacked Mrs McDonald five days later.
The SPS said the criteria prisoners must satisfy before they are eligible for home leave are more stringent than ever.
‘Horrific and violent attack’