Home detention plans through at second attempt
28 Mar 08
But plans to end automatic early release of prisoners reported to be on hold
MSPs voted yesterday to extend the home detention curfew scheme to include prisoners serving sentences of four years and more as a way of easing prison overcrowding.
The vote, which reverses the rejection of the proposal by Holyrood's Justice Committee, also overturns a defeat in the full parliament two weeks ago when four Liberal Democrat MSPs accidentally voted the wrong way.
Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill told MSPs that prisoners could not be released under the new scheme unless the Parole Board had approved their suitability for release.
The pressures facing the prison system have resulted in the legislation to end the automatic early release of prisoners being put on hold indefinitely, according to today's Herald.
Between 700 and 1,100 additional prisoner places would be needed if automatic early release was ended, as well as additional social work supervision for those assessed and released.
The policy to end early release is one of the matters being reviewed by the Scottish Prisons Commission, chaired by former First Minister Henry McLeish, whose report is due in June.