On day he gets life again, SNP refuse to even order review
NICOLA Sturgeon yesterday refused to put an end to convicted killers being allowed on home leave before they are considered for parole.
The First Minister said the case of Robbie McIntosh was ‘horrific’ and admitted she would be ‘saying exactly the same things’ as his victim’s family, who have called for a review into the system.
But she has refused to launch a review or end home leave, saying it was a ‘well-established part of the rehabilitation process’ for prisoners serving life sentences and that ‘rigorous’ risk assessments were always carried out beforehand.
Miss Sturgeon said lessons would be learned from the McIntosh case, which could result in changes to the way in which assessments are conducted.
But she insisted that home leave is vital for the rehabilitation of criminals.
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson demanded a review of the system, arguing that the public expect prisoners, especially violent offenders, to ‘serve their time’.
She also claimed that McIntosh’s attack on Linda McDonald had prompted Scots to question whether the dice are ‘loaded’ in favour of those committing crimes, rather than victims.
In an impassioned exchange at First Minister’s Questions yesterday, Miss Davidson asked Miss Sturgeon if she agreed that the case ‘raises further questions about our justice system, and why killers who should be in jail are instead allowed to walk free before a parole board has even ruled they are safe to do so.’
The SNP leader said that if McIntosh is ever released again he would be under ‘intensive supervision for the rest of his life’.
But Miss Davidson said: ‘I don’t think it is unreasonable for the public to expect prisoners to serve their time. When cases like today’s emerge, the question from the public is why again?
‘Why is a killer let loose to try to kill again? Why are the dice loaded against victims and in favour of criminals again?
‘Why do we only act when another family is left to pick up the pieces of their lives?
‘Home leave for convicted murderers, where they are free to walk the streets before they even face the parole board, should be reviewed, isn’t it that simple?’
Miss Sturgeon said it was not a simple issue. She added that the case was ‘extremely distressing’ and she could ‘entirely understand and sym- pathise with the views of the family’.
She said: ‘For life sentence prisoners, home leave is the final stage in a phased programme of increasing their freedoms.
‘Often, it helps to inform the Parole Board’s decisions on a prisoners suitability for release. Home leave will be granted only after the prisoner has progressed successfully through the prison system.’
Miss Sturgeon said that risk assessments carried out before release involve ‘psychological assessment, social work and reports on the time that they have spent in prison. Home lease is always granted with very strict conditions applied.’
But, Miss Davidson continued to argue that a review must be held as it was an issue for ‘wider public concern’.
She added: ‘Under current rules, prisoners can be allowed out of jail before their official release. It’s called temporary release.
‘That means they can be let out into the community without supervision.’
Miss Sturgeon said that if there are lessons to be learned from this case, ‘those lessons must be applied for the future’.
This could see changes to ‘tighten the way in which risk assessments are carried out’.
She added: ‘These, with the greatest of respect to Ruth Davidson, are not simple issues. These are actually really complex issues and we have a duty to recognise the complexity with the public.’
Earlier this year the Scottish Daily Mail revealed that nearly 60,000 days of home leave had been granted to prisoners in the past three years.
In almost 130 cases there were breaches of licence conditions that included prisoners reoffending.
‘Dice loaded against victims’