PLANS to let longer-term prisoners out of jail with electronic tags could end in tragedy, it was claimed today.
Tory justice spokesman Bill Aitken condemned the move by Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill to extend home detention curfews to more offenders sentenced to over four years' imprisonment.
In a debate at the Scottish Parliament, he said: "Eventually
something terrible will happen – and at that point Mr MacAskill will have to take personal responsibility. This is a disastrous move. It will cause a great deal of difficulty. It may well end in tragedy."
Mr MacAskill assured MSPs that prisoners serving long-term sentences could not be released on home detention curfew unless the Parole Board had already recommended their release and they met assessment criteria for tagging.
But he said the changes proposed by the Government would see about 50 places freed up in Scotland's prisons, which is now coping with over 8000 inmates in jails designed to hold 6626.
Labour's Pauline McNeill said her party opposed the changes and claimed they would mean someone serving six years could be out in two and a half.
But Liberal Democrat justice spokeswoman Margaret Smith, MSP for Edinburgh West, said 69 per cent of prisoners freed under tagging did not breach the conditions imposed.
And she told MSPs: "Of the 3000 people released on HDC, less than one per cent have offended while on the scheme."
She said releasing prisoners early as part of the initiative helped reduce overcrowding.
And she added: "It should also be looked at as a positive option for those prisoners who are assessed as being low risk so they can integrate back into their community in a managed way."
The full article contains 293 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
