The automatic early release and supervision of prisoners in Scotland

The Prisoners and Criminal Proceedings (Scotland) Act 1993 allowed for long- term prisoners – those subject to determinate sentences of four years or more and life sentences – to apply for release on parole at the half-way stage or to be “automatically” released on non-parole licence at the two-thirds stage of their sentence. Any decision to release prisoners before the two-thirds stage was taken by the Parole Board for Scotland, which also set all licence conditions, including statutory supervision in the community until the end of the sentence (unless otherwise revoked). Released prisoners who breached their licence conditions could be recalled to prison to serve the remaining period of their sentence, but otherwise the aim was for a period of monitoring and supervision in the community prior to sentence completion.