Admin blunder sees perverts freed from jail early
This year eight criminals from Saughton, Barlinnie and Kilmarnock – all high-security prisons – were accidentally released due to “admin errors” caused by miscalculating sentences.
The figure for 2012 is the highest for five years. Altogether, 48 prisoners have been accidentally released since 2005.
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Hide AdIn 2007 a fraudster was wrongly freed from Saughton for 111 days, before being hauled back inside and in 2010 a paedophile was accidentally released for a day.
Margaret Watson, who set up the campaign group Justice for Victims after the murder of her daughter, Diane, said: “If mistakes are happening the system needs to be tightened up. It’s unforgiveable.”
John Lamont MSP, the Tory chief whip, said: “The public will find it hard to understand why what should be a fairly straightforward process could have such a number of mistakes.”
A spokesman for the Scottish Prison Service said: “The calculation of a release date can be complicated by matters such as taking into account whether a prisoner was held on remand, where more than one sentence is being served and whether or not sentences are concurrant.”