Short-term prisoner release

Monitoring the impact of these changes

The Prisoners (Early Release) (Scotland) Act requires Scottish Ministers to provide a report to the Scottish Parliament in 2027 on the operation of the changes made by that Act which reduced the automatic early release point for certain short-term prisoners to 40%.

We have also committed to reviewing the changes made by the Prisoners (Early Release) (Miscellaneous Amendment and Transitional Provisions) (Scotland) Regulations 2026 which further reduces the automatic early release point to 30%.

In addition, the Scottish Prison Service will publish tranche release numbers the week after they take place, and will publish a data analysis report 6 months after the project’s completion.