THE HOME DETENTION SHAMBLES
Dozens of criminals on run after breaching ‘soft touch’ sentences – as SNP defends curfew system
DOZENS of convicted criminals are on the run after breaching ‘soft-touch’ home curfew sentences. The Scottish Government yesterday confirmed that around 60 offenders have failed to complete home detention orders and are ‘unlawfully at large’.
It comes only days after the case of serial knife thug James Wright – who killed father of three Craig McClelland after ignoring his tagging order – sparked a public outcry.
Officials also revealed that nearly one home detention order in four is not completed.
Ministers have been urged by opponents to ‘put victims first for once’ and stop the expansion of the use of curfews.
But, despite repeatedly admitting that Wright’s case is ‘appalling’, this was rejected by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson said: ‘The fact dozens of potentially dangerous criminals are unlawfully at large exposes
the holes in this system. There are clearly issues with monitoring which the SNP Government needs to get on top of as a matter of urgency.
‘Until it does, its plan to further empty prisons must be put on hold.’
at Holyrood yesterday, Miss Sturgeon revealed that 21,000 people have been released from jail on Home Detention curfews (HDcs) since they were introduced in 2006. of that total, 0.3 per cent ‘are people who are currently unlawfully at large’.
officials later confirmed there are around 300 people in Scotland serving HDcs at present and approximately 60 more are ‘unlawfully at large’.
it is understood that the majority of the 60 cases are recent breaches and the individuals involved are being actively hunted by police. But some are longer-term breaches where the criminal has never been discovered, sometimes for years. in one case, an offender was found only when his body was discovered in africa.
out of all HDcs issued in the past 12 years, only 76 per cent have been successfully completed. of the remainder, 20 per cent were breached and 4 per cent were ‘technical breaches’, where technology or equipment failed.
officials also confirmed that, of the one in five cases which have been breached, 4.7 per cent of offenders went on to commit a further crime.
Miss Davidson raised the Wright case at First Minister’s Questions yesterday.
The 25-year-old thug who had 16 previous convictions, including two for knife crimes, had been released from low Moss Prison on an HDc.
He murdered Mr Mcclelland at random. The victim’s distraught partner, Stacey
‘Put the victims first for once’
Mcclelland, said their young children had been left ‘in pain, sobbing, crying’.
Miss Davidson called for the expansion of HDcs to be halted while a review is carried out into the system.
She said: ‘We do not know how many criminals on home release are committing crimes and the Government accepts that there is a problem, but we are going to have more electronic tagging anyway.
‘Would it not make sense to put those plans on hold, at least until we can reassure the public that the system works? is it not time to put victims first for once?’
Miss Sturgeon described the Wright killing as ‘an appalling case’. She added: ‘James Wright committed a dreadful crime and i want to take this opportunity to express my deepest sympathies to Mr Mcclelland’s family and to his friends.’
Miss Davidson said that the Government’s Management of offenders (Scotland) Bill ‘puts far more reliance on criminals being tagged in the community, not less’ and this should be put on hold while reviews are carried out by Her Majesty’s chief inspector of Prisons for Scotland and Her Majesty’s chief inspector of constabulary.
Miss Sturgeon replied: ‘i am not trying to defend what happened in the case, and i never would try to do so, but such cases – appalling though they are – do not necessarily mean the whole system is not working.
‘Something went badly wrong and it is important that we look carefully at it and, if there are wider lessons to be learned, that we learn those wider lessons.’
She added: ‘on the more general issue, i preface my remarks by saying i am not referring to the individual case that has been raised this week... more generally, it is not the case that our justice system is tilted towards criminals rather than victims.
‘Scotland has one of the highest prison populations anywhere in western Europe. Part of the problem is that we know prison is not the most effective sentence in reducing reoffending for some of those who commit offences.’
a spokesman for the Scottish Prison Service said: ‘We will be happy to co-operate fully in the investigation by the chief inspector of Prisons.’
a Police Scotland spokesman said that ‘clear guidance is given to officers about their responsibilities to trace individuals who are subject to a Home Detention curfew Recall Notice’, and that it will ‘continue to pursue those who have breached home detention curfews’.
Comment – Page 16