'Dark day for public safety' as latest batch of early release prisoners hit the streets

Convicts freed due to overcrowding crisis

- DAVID WALKER Scottish Politics Reporter

THE SNP Government was slated for overseeing a “dark day for public safety” as the latest wave of cons were let out of prison early.

And the Justice Secretary even admitted that many of those released prematurely over the next few months were likely to reoffend and be returned to jail in a matter of weeks.

An estimated 990 prisoners will be freed early by next April in a bid to ease the overcrowding crisis, with the first tranche walking out yesterday. Angela Constance admitted one in eight released early over the next six months will likely end up back behind bars for re-offending.

At HMP Barlinnie in Glasgow, one freed prisoner said he was due to be released next year.

The man said conditions in the Victorian jail were “terrible, sh**e, chaos, if one word can describe, chaos”. Asked how he felt about early release he said: “I feel good.” He said his crime was “Carrying a knife, there was no victims.”