Previous position
9.The automatic early release of short-term prisoners is provided for primarily in section 1(1) of the 1993 Act. However, short-term prisoners who are sentenced to 6 months’ imprisonment or more for an offence listed in schedule 3 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 (i.e. one where sex offender notification requirements apply upon conviction) are dealt with separately under section 1AA of the 1993 Act. Terrorist prisoners are also dealt with separately and are provided for in section 1AB of the 1993 Act.
10.The effect of section 1(1) of the 1993 Act prior to this Act was that, subject to the exception of the categories of prisoner noted above, the Scottish Ministers(2) were required to release a short-term prisoner after the prisoner had served one-half (i.e. 50%) of their sentence. Release was normally unconditional, although this was subject to any supervised release order which applied in a particular case(3), and any prisoners who were subject to an extended sentence were to be released on licence instead(4).
While the 1993 Act refers to this as being a duty upon the Secretary of State, this is read as meaning the Scottish Ministers under section 53 of the Scotland Act 1998.
A supervised release order can be imposed by the court under section 209 of the 1995 Act on a short-term prisoner who is convicted on indictment of a non-sexual offence if the court considers the order necessary “to protect the public from serious harm from the offender” on the person’s release.
Extended sentences can be imposed by the court under section 210A and section 210AA of the 1995 Act where a person is convicted on indictment of a sexual, violent, terrorism or abduction offence and the court considers that the period (if any) for which the offender would otherwise be on licence “would not be adequate for the purpose of protecting the public from serious harm from the offender”.