Hundreds more thugs to be let out of jail early
HUNDREDS of criminals are set to be freed from jail early wearing electronic tags.
a softening of guidelines for the ‘armchair custody’ scheme will let inmates with a history of reoffending take part for the first time.
almost 300 will be eligible for the Home Detention curfew (HDC), which critics warn puts emptying jails ahead of protecting the public. This will open HDC to criminals who have been freed in the past – then sent back to jail for breaking the terms of their release.
Last night, David Hines of the national Victims’ association said: ‘This is all being done to empty cells without a single thought for public safety – that is reprehensible.
‘The nonsense of tagging criminals and letting them out early must end because it is being done for entirely the wrong reasons and is putting ordinary people at risk.’
HDC has a breach rate of 17 per cent, meaning almost one in five break their release conditions and are sent back to jail. Yet Justice secretary Michael Matheson wants to extend it.
scottish Government documents say: ‘currently, prisoners who are released on licence and recalled for non-compli
‘Putting ordinary people at risk’
ance with their licence conditions or for committing a new crime while serving a sentence of imprisonment in the community are permanently excluded from HDC.’
But the changes mean prison bosses ‘will have discretion to release those prisoners [who are currently ineligible for HDC] from prison on HDC’.
Ministers and jail bosses believe the possible risk to public safety is outweighed by the benefits of HDC, which in theory allows prisoners to reacclimatise to life in the outside world.
prison managers – who decide who to free on HDC – insist risk assessments are carried out and sex offenders are not eligible. But those convicted of crimes of violence deemed minor are able to take part.
HDC orders allow prison chiefs to free inmates on licence before they would be eligible for early release or parole.
scottish Tory justice spokesman Douglas ross said: ‘These measures can play a vital role in the rehabilitation of crimi- nals. However, there’s now a risk the snp will simply use them to empty prisons, not use them in moderation as they are intended.
‘The changes set out will be of concern to the victims of crime, who need to know that those convicted of a crime are behind bars, not sitting watching television at home.’
about 1,000 prisoners are released on HDC every year, with between 300 and 400 out at any one time.
The scottish Government said up to 276 additional prisoners would be eligible for HDC under the relaxation of the guidelines.
a spokesman said: ‘a number of important exclusions from HDC will remain, including sexual and violent offenders who are serving an extended sentence and sex offenders who are subject to the notification requirements.
‘The most recent figure available to us suggests there are currently up to 276 additional prisoners who may be eligible for HDC when these regulations come into force.
‘release on HDC is not however automatic. Before being released on Hdc, prisoners will be assessed to ensure they are not a risk to the public and their risk of reoffending is low. This will reduce the number that are actually released.’
a scottish prison service spokesman said that releasing prisoners on tags was aimed at helping their ‘successful reintegration’.
scottish police authority chairman andrew Flanagan said last year that public concern about dangerous criminals being freed on tags was ‘understandable’ and picking the right offenders to be freed ‘isn’t easy’.
In October, Mr Matheson told the scottish Daily Mail: ‘We are not taking an approach with tagging which is based on the type of offence that a person has actually committed.
‘It’s about taking an approach that is the most effective way to support public safety.’
FAINT strirrings of life from Justice Secretary Michael Matheson, the invisible man of Nicola Sturgeon’s woeful Cabinet.
So is he finally getting to grips with the enormous problems at Police Scotland – where ongoing budget cuts impair the force’s ability to protect the law-abiding majority of Scots? Oh, no.
He is bringing forward yet another wheeze to empty the jails.
By softening up the rules on Home Detention Curfews – so-called armchair custody – he will allow hundreds more criminals, including violent thugs, housebreakers and drug-dealers, to leave prison wearing electronic tags.
Crucially, this wrong-headed softening of guidelines will allow prisoners with a history of reoffending to take part in HDC for the first time.
Bitter experience tells us tags are of limited value in protecting the public. They are clearly unsuitable for recidivists who have proven beyond doubt their engrained criminality. Besotted with trendy ideas about ‘justice journeys’, the SNP has time and again allowed its soft-touch schemes to put the rights of offenders over those of victims.
It has also lost sight of the fact that custodial sentences are there as both punishment and deterrent.
The public grasp that simple concept. Why then is there an enormous disconnect from a public who want to be safe in their beds and on our streets?