LONDON — Hundreds of prisoners will be freed in Scotland as part of a broader emergency response to ease the burden of overcrowded prisons across the United Kingdom.
“We have been managing an extremely high and complex prison population for more than a year, putting considerable pressure on all those living and working in our establishments,” a Scottish Prison Service spokesperson told NBC News on Tuesday via email, after the first of almost 400 prisoners were released.
Scotland’s prisons housed almost 8,000 prisoners every day in 2024 — a 6% increase on the previous year, according to its government statistics.
“In line with trends seen elsewhere in the U.K., Scotland’s prison population has significantly grown in recent years and, consequently, this rise has impacted prisons and the wider justice system,” a Scottish government spokesperson told NBC News on Tuesday.
Scotland is part of the United Kingdom but, like Wales and Northern Ireland, has its own semi-autonomous government with broad powers over areas including health care, education and law, meaning its government can unilaterally decide to free the prisoners without seeking the consent of the British Parliament in London.
The prison population across the U.K. was just more than 97,000 people in March 2024, according the most recent British government data which projected that number to grow by around 4,500 every year while prisons remained “almost full,” it stated.
In response, the U.K. government last year launched a major review over its sentencing laws and allowed judges to sentence offenders to house arrest. It also freed more than 1,700 prisoners across England and Wales in September.
Under emergency legislation passed last November, Scottish inmates sentenced to less than four years are eligible for early release after serving 40% of their term, unless convicted of domestic abuse or sexual offenses.
This means between 260 and 390 short-term prisoners are set to be freed over a six-week period starting Tuesday.
The new legislation, which came into effect Feb. 11, will “bring a sustained reduction to prisoner numbers so the prison estate can continue to function effectively,” the government spokesperson said.
The early release is expected to reduce the prison population by 5%, although the government has also acknowledged the new law is not a complete solution to overcrowded jails.
Another 470 Scottish inmates were released early from prison last August, but 61 ended up back in custody before their original planned release date, according to Scottish Prison Service data.
“While not a complete solution, this Act will bring sustained reduction to prisoner numbers so the prison estate can continue to function effectively,” Scottish Justice Secretary Angela Constance stated in a press release in January.
But the early release could be “distressing for victims of crime” and “raise questions and cause concern,” Constance added.
In response, the Scottish Police Service has urged victims to sign up for a joint scheme with Victim Support Scotland, a charity that provides support to those affected by crime, so that they will be notified if their offender’s release date changes.
The charity told NBC news in a statement Tuesday that there had been “no improvements” to the main mechanism intended to inform victims since the new legislation was passed.
“The last time prisoners were released early, only 2% of victims were notified,” said Kate Wallace, Victim Support Scotland’s chief executive.
She added that the early release would have a “profoundly damaging impact on victim confidence and trust in the justice system” if the number of victims contacted did not increase this time.
The spokesperson for Scottish Prison Service said it would work with the government and the justice sector to look at “all possible actions which will deliver a manageable population” in its prisons.
Support and rehabilitation of prisoners would continue to reduce “their risk of reoffending, and helping to build safer communities across Scotland,” he added.
