Scottish Political Correspondent. Wednesday 27 May 2015

Experts savage SNP plan to jail long term prisoners for longer and warn it will increase risk to publicDaniel Sanderson

A PROPOSED law that would see long-term prisoners behind bars for longer has been savaged by experts, despite the SNP watering down its original plan in an effort to address their concerns.

Holyrood's Justice Committee heard yesterday that the Control of Release (Scotland) Bill could increase risk to the public rather than its stated aim of reducing it, while swelling the prison population at a cost of £17 million pounds a year.

The Scottish Government originally wanted to scrap the system of automatic early release for prisoners sentenced to four years or more entirely, delivering on an SNP manifesto pledge. Currently they are released two-thirds of the way into their sentence and serve the remainder on licence in the community, subject to the threat of recall if they misbehave.

After it was warned that dangerous criminals would be set free with no supervision or support increasing risks of reoffending, Justice Secretary Michael Matheson said that he would instead release prisoners six months before their jail term was due to end, if the parole board had not allowed them out earlier.

However, the changes have not gone nearly far enough according to Fergus McNei'l, Professor of Criminology and Social Work at the University of Glasgow, who said the Bill remained "not fit for purpose".

The six month period of supervision, he said, was inadequate to allow a long-term prisoner to effectively reintegrate into the community and would increase their likelihood of committing further crimes. Professor McNeill and Cyrus Tata, Professor of Law and Criminal Justice at the University of Strathclyde, called for a proportionate system linked to a length of sentence rather than imposing an arbitrary six months. They agreed that at least a quarter of sentences should be served in the community to allow for effective rehabilitation.

Professor McNeill said: "Imagine yourself in a position of coming out of jail after 10 years. A way to think of it without having been a prisoner is think about having worked overseas or just moving house. How long does it take for you to feel like you belong and feel safe in the community you've come to?

"It seems obvious to me that if you've spent 10 years in prison, six months is a very short period of time not least because of the accumulated effects of the institutionalisation that a long sentence brings.

"If as a social worker you have just six months to work with this individual to address issues that weren't successfully addressed in prison, and engage with their social network in a such a way to facilitate their successful re-entry and reduce risks, I'd be throwing up my hands and saying 'there's no way I can deal with all these issues in six months'. Six months is too short.

"I still think the Bill is not fit for purpose in its current form... I don't think holding someone longer then releasing them six months before the end of their sentence is the best way of securing public safety in the long term. Longer periods of support reduces risk."

Professor Tata said that the limited six month period would apply to only the most dangerous prisoners, who it was most essential to reintegrate, as they would have been denied an earlier release by the parole board.

He said: "We know that supervised, mandatory release is essential. These are the people deemed too risky to release at the discretionary point. Why would we want to squeeze that period right down to six months? I'm genuinely puzzled as to what this Bill is trying to achieve. What problem is it trying to solve?

"It's not ending automatic early release, so the SNP is left with the same problem [in terms of its manifesto commitment]. It seems to me to be attacking the very bit of the release system that works the best."

It was also warned that the Scottish Government would face being sued by prisoners who could argue that they were unable to prove they were safe to release, should in-prison programmes not be available.

Professor Tata added: "The Government says it wants to work towards penal reduction. Yet, the concrete measure we have here is to do quite the opposite. The one bit of the system we're going to guarantee for greatly increased funding is the prison service. Why spend so much more on a Bill that the evidence suggests is going to reduce public safety?"

Mr Matheson argued on Tuesday that the six month period was "proportionate" and that the increased cost of locking people up for longer may be paid for by reducing the number of short term sentences handed out.The Scottish Government originally wanted to scrap the system of automatic early release for prisoners sentenced to four years or more entirely, delivering on an SNP manifesto pledge. Currently they are released two-thirds of the way into their sentence and serve the remainder on licence in the community, subject to the threat of recall if they misbehave.