News In Focus
29 November 2007
Extension of home curfew scheme proposed
The Scottish Government has announced plans to extend the home curfew scheme to help tackle current prison overcrowding.
Under the proposals, offenders who already qualify under the existing scheme will be able to spend up to six months on home detention curfew (HDC), as opposed to the current four and a half months.
In addition, offenders whom the Parole Board for Scotland has assessed as suitable for release on parole will be eligible to be released on HDC. This applies to prisoners sentenced to four years or more, and could mean that some offenders convicted of crimes such as murder, attempted murder and drug dealing, could be released up to six months earlier than normal.
The proposed new measures should result in around an additional 140 offenders being released on HDC over the current arrangements. Current statutory exclusions, which include sex offenders, will continue to apply.
Record levels
Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said: "We have inherited a prison population which is operating at record levels, around 1,000 beyond design capacity and rising.
"A coherent penal policy must encompass a range of appropriate punishments, including prison for serious and dangerous criminals as well as tough community penalties for low risk minor offenders.
"We have to replace existing capacity with fit for purpose accommodation. After years of indecision, the average of £120 million a year we are investing will provide prisons fit for purpose. What we have to put in place is an environment where professional prison staff can make meaningful intervention in tackling offending behaviour and to ensure that prisoners released from prison are less likely to commit the offences that got them into trouble in the first place."
Mr MacAskill said he would be asking the Scottish Parliament to extend the HDC scheme, as he was "not prepared to stand by and let our prisons implode".
He added that HDC was an option for prisoners professionally assessed as low risk and that public safety remained a priority for the Government.
The provisions governing the home detention curfew scheme are contained in the Management of Offenders etc (Scotland) Act 2005.
Compliance with HDC is monitored electronically. The prisoner wears a tag and is restricted to a place for 12 hours per day, for example, his or her home between the hours of 7pm and 7am.
David Sinclair of Victim Support Scotland said that while his organisation recognised overcrowding in prisons was a problem, victims of crime would have no faith in the criminal justice system if deductions made the original sentence look totally unrealistic.