COP CHIEF WARNS OVER RELEASE

Don't give 1000 cons a get out of jail free card

- BY MARY WRIGHT

COMMUNITIES will pay the price if another 1000 inmates are released early to tackle a prison overcrowding crisis, a senior police officer has warned.

Chief Superintendent Rob Hay, president of the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents (ASPS), has said the policy is depriving society of "vital respite" from criminality.

He insisted jailing offenders isn't just "about punishment" but about giving communities time to rebuild themselves.

Data shows that more than one in 10 prisoners released early last summer were back inside before their original release date - a rate of almost 13 per cent.