Long-term prisoner release process: consultation analysis

Executive Summary

Introduction

On 8 July 2024, the Scottish Government published a consultation seeking views on proposed changes to the long-term prisoner release process. The consultation closed on 19 August, and 161 responses to the consultation were received.

The responses will help to inform policy around prisoner release points in the context of the currently high prison population.

This report presents an analysis of the responses to the consultation and sets out the Scottish Government’s next steps.

Summary of Responses

Analysis of consultation responses identified a number of key themes cited by respondents. These themes relate to both the supportive and non-supportive views that respondents expressed for the proposals as well as a number of operational issues around implementation and delivery of the proposals.

There was notable support amongst the responses for increasing the time some long-term prisoners spend in the community as part of a sentence and recognition that this can improve reintegration and other outcomes. However, respondents expressed concerns about the general risk profile of this cohort and the ability of services to safely manage that risk in the community within current resources. In some cases, where support was given to the proposals, it was with the caveats that sufficient resources and time for planning is made available or that additional restrictions be put in place, for example, that the new point of release should only apply to certain risk assessed prisoners. Whilst most respondents were supportive in principle of a change to the point of release for long-term prisoners, given the operational issues they also raised in some of their responses, it was not always clear the degree to which respondents supported the proposal as framed.

Some respondents, particularly those representing victims’ interests, were not supportive of early release in principle (including the current system of early release). Some felt that these measures would undermine public confidence in the justice system and would negatively impact both reporting of crime and victim experience. Many of these respondents called for similar measures to be applied as were used during the emergency early release process, such as offence-based exclusions and a process to block the release of those deemed higher risk.

Next Steps

The responses will help to inform a range of measures designed to respond to the rising prison population, including planned legislation relating to the release point for certain prisoners.