Short-term prisoner release

What the changes mean

The Prisoners (Early Release) (Miscellaneous Amendment and Transitional Provisions) (Scotland) Regulations 2026 changed the point of automatic early release for some prisoners serving short-term sentences.

This means that some short-term prisoners (those serving less than 4 years) are released after serving 30% of their sentence instead of 40%.

Who is eligible

The new release point will apply to prisoners serving sentences of less than 4 years and children serving sentences of less than 4 years in secure accommodation.

The law change does not apply to prisoners or children in secure care serving all or part of their sentence for domestic abuse or sexual offences, or an offence with a domestic abuse statutory aggravator.

This is because it is understood that people who are victims of these crimes often do not feel able to report them compared to other types of crimes.

In recent years, progress has been made in increasing the proportion of people who come forward to report these types of crimes. We have excluded these offences to avoid discouraging victims of domestic abuse and sexual offences from reporting these crimes.

Further information on eligibility

Previous convictions

Having a previous conviction for domestic abuse or a sexual offence will not exclude the prisoner from release at 30% if they are now serving a sentence for a different crime.

Imprisonment for non-payment of a fine

If a person is serving a prison sentence because they did not pay a fine then they will be released at the 30% release point. This will be the case even if the fine was imposed for a domestic abuse or sexual offence, because the prison sentence is a consequence of the fine not being paid.

Orders relating to sexual offending

Sexual harm prevention orders (SHPOs) or sexual offences prevention orders (SOPOs) can be imposed on people convicted of sexual offences or those whose behaviour poses a particular risk. Restrictions can include things like limiting internet access or travel.

It is a criminal offence if a person breaches a SOPO or SHPO and as a consequence they can be given a prison sentence. However, if a person is only serving a prison sentence because they breached this type of order, this does not count as a sexual offence in and of itself and so they will be released at the 30% release point.

If, in breaching the order, they are also convicted of a separate sexual offence and are sentenced to prison, then the exclusions would apply and they will be released at 50%.

Examples of how the changes will work  

Examples are provided below to illustrate the effect of the changes made by the Regulations. It should be noted that these are approximations only based on simplified examples. Release dates are calculated by the Scottish Prison Service and involve a level of complexity in considering the overall time spent in prison, including on remand.

However, broadly speaking, under the current provisions:

• an individual sentenced to 1 year would be eligible for early release after 3.6 months in prison instead of 4.8 months
• an individual sentenced to 2 years would be eligible for early release after 7.2 months in prison instead of 9.6 months
• an individual sentenced to 3 years would be eligible for early release after 10.8 months in prison instead of 14.4 months