Condemnation as 477 prisoners freed early but fewer than 20 victims warned
Daily MailTHE vast majority of victims of crime were kept in the dark about hundreds of criminals being released early, a leading charity has claimed. Victim Support Scotland said that fewer than 20 people were informed through the victim notification scheme that offenders in their cases were being freed early to tackle overcrowded jails. Chief Executive of Victim Support Scotland, Kate Wallace, says victims were kept in the dark about criminals being released early ‘The members of the victim notification scheme, as far as I understand it, was less than 20 people. We were really hoping that the Scottish Government would have learned lessons from that Covid release programme and approached it differently but sadly they didn’t and this is the result.’ She said a wholescale review is required to ‘prioritise victim safety’ and added that Victim Support Scotland would have ‘serious concerns’ about any move to extend the approach to longer-term prisoners. Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Russell Findlay said: ‘The SNP freed almost 500 prisoners before they’d served their sentences yet deliberately kept victims in the dark.
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Scotland releases 500 criminals back onto the streets because the country's jails are too overcrowded
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