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Salmond vows to end inmates' early release



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Published Date: 23 May 2008
THE automatic early release of prisoners from Scotland's jails will be abolished, the First Minister promised yesterday.
Alex Salmond said his administration would end the scheme, when he appeared at First Minister's Questions in the Scottish Parliament.

Annabel Goldie, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, had raised the issue after a sheriff claimed that the system had rendered decisions on sentences "largely meaningless". Mr Salmond said: "There is now a substantial consensus that automatic early release should end."

Proposals to end automatic, unconditional early release – passed by parliament last year but yet to be enacted – are being examined by Henry McLeish, a former first minister, as part of a review of prisons and sentencing. The legislation was put on hold amid concern at the impact it would have on overstretched prisons and social work departments required to monitor offenders after they are released.

Sheriff Kevin Drummond hit out after a man freed after serving less than a third of a 16-month jail sentence reoffended soon after.





The full article contains 174 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 22 May 2008 11:46 PM
  • Source: The Scotsman
  • Location: Edinburgh
  • Related Topics: Scottish prisons
 
1

donald,

glasgow 23/05/2008 06:12:15
Early release for Labour MPs?
2

W U Merchant,

Aberdeen 23/05/2008 06:55:42
Fair enough Alex, but where will you build the new prisons?
3

haggis 10,

23/05/2008 07:21:31
European Law should be enacted with regard to Liebour politicians ie Guilty until Proven Innocent That way we could get rid of all of the CORRUPT Liebour politicians in one go. Saughton would be full of Liebour Politicians trying to get early release for all convicts.
4

Unimpressed one,

23/05/2008 08:20:24
Good luck to him though I believe that this piece of stupidty is caused by some EU dictat.
5

The wilkman,

Isle of Skye 23/05/2008 10:26:27
O Unimpressed one, if "this piece of stupidty is caused by some EU dictat" then how come that Salmond, Goldie et al anticipate no problem in unilaterally changing it?

I saw problems with EU rules in the shellfish industry in the West Highlands here and they were 100% the result of our (the UK's, Scotland's) civil sevants inept input. France's authorities shrugged their shoulders at the stupidities we had pressured them into signing up to and ignored them; we tried to impose them, found it was far to dear, and then half ignored them, leaving shellfish buyers in a situation where trading within the law became literally impossible. Stop hanging our failures round the EU's neck.
6

Boggle fey the Bog,

23/05/2008 11:53:41
2 W U Merchant,Aberdeen 23/05/2008 06:55:42

No need to build 'new prisons' just 're-model' the old.

50 man dormitories, no television, no phones, all privileges to be 'worked for, not given as a right.

Chain them to their bunks, make them work for their food, and keep.

Disruptive behaviour treated with extreme sanctions, 'ten days in the hole' the the first offence, 60 days for the next, then increase by a factor of 6 for each and every further transgression, and then the time spent in 'the hole' to be added to the end of the original sentence.
No right to vote, no right to conjugal visits, half of all monies earned to go to compensating the victims, even after they have left prison.

No time off for good behaviour, 10 years should mean 10 years!! Any 'early release', to be 'on License', if the perp even drops a fag end and is caught, then back to the 'happy farm'.

Parole boards to be predominantly made up of 'victims' or their relatives.

Armed guards with orders to 'shoot to kill' if anyone tries to escape.

No physical contact with visitors, all 'gifts' for convicts to be examined by guards, anyone trying to smuggle in contraband to be summarily sentence to 6 months hard labour on a diet of dry bread and water. ;-)

Aye Interesting Times ;-)
7

JoeMcT,

BlairsFantasyIsland 23/05/2008 14:47:58
Yet another sensible policy from the SNP that is in tune with what most people think.

Yep, no wonder New Labour HATE the SNP so much!!!
8

morris,

edinburgh 23/05/2008 16:22:28
Early release has a fundamental flaw in its thinking.I f you are serving twenty years and you know you will be released in 16 if you behave, of course you will behave, (and possibly re-offend as soon as released).
The scope for commiting crime is pretty limited whilst locked up presumably, so good behaviour should be well possible!
To those who say there is no incentive to behave then! Thats easily fixed.Lock them up for even longer if they dont behave! You still have the incentive,but you dont con the system now!

I agree DO THE CRIME DO THE TIME and I dont mean in a three star hotel either!
9

Neal! Whit? Haud yer Whisht!!,

23/05/2008 16:28:04
A really good way to stop prison overcrowding would be to bring back the death penalty for murder.

That'd release a fair few cells for other 'lesser' offenders.

Let 'em swing.
10

David McLeod,

East Lothian 23/05/2008 23:18:32
Yeah, right. I'll believe it when I see it. More grand-standing from Alex Salmond.

If the jails are full, where are you going to put the prisoners, Mr Salmond ? Or are you just going to order judges not to send anyone else to prison until the current crop of inmates get out, or are you just going to shorten prison sentences for all crimes (and give lots more non-custodial sentencing guidelines for serious violent crime) - that'll keep the prisons busier than Queen St. station on a Monday morning ?

That would be the Marxist's way.
11

Murray in Canada,

Salt Spring Island 24/05/2008 01:04:20
What about the curious custom of making sentences run concurrently? It makes a nonsense of each of them. Sentences for [say] six counts of robbery or whatever at [say] 12 months each should not be served at the same time - it doesn't make sense. Properly, it should mean 6 x 12 months, = 6 years. And, as suggested above, a full six years to the day.
Besides this of course there's a lot of talk about prisoners having all sorts of perks, TV, etc etc. WHY is this the case? If it's an EU thing, the rules have been too freely interpreted. And as someone says above, France, e.g., isn't daft enough to accept everything Brussels throws at her, but goes her own way.

 

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