By Steve Bargeton, political editor

MINISTERS YESTERDAY tried to assure the public that changes to the rules over releasing criminals back into the community will strike the right balance between punishment and rehabilitation.

They have come under heavy fire since it emerged last week that one of the men convicted of the murder of teenager Kriss Donald had been released from prison halfway through a 30-month sentence in February 2003 for assault to danger of life and dangerous driving. Had he served his full sentence, he would still have been in prison when the murder of the 15-year-old occurred.

The Executive’s current proposals will, however, not mean a complete end to early release.

Opposition MSPs are putting pressure on ministers to change their plans to make sure prisoners serve more of their sentence.

They argue that the current proposals are confusing and will not restore public confidence in sentencing policy.

But Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson yesterday insisted that automatic, unconditional early release will end.

“We are going to put in place a completely new way of dealing with sentencing,” she said.

“There will be a two-part sentence where the judge will decide on how long a person should spend in custody but also, very importantly, we will now ensure that anyone serving a sentence of more than 15 days will also serve part of their sentence in the community and they will be under supervision for that.

“That’s very important because we want to try and ensure that when people serve any sentence that they are less likely to re-offend in the future.”

However, the minister admitted that the new system will not mean a complete end to early release.

“What will happen is a judge might decide that someone will spend a year in prison and they would then perhaps spend a year in the community,” she said.

“But it will be possible under the new scheme, if that person doesn’t cooperate or stick to their programmes while they are in prison and they continue to pose a risk to the public, for that person to be kept in custody longer.

“That’s a very substantial shift from the current system whereby a person serving a sentence of less than four years simply walks out of the prison gates after they’ve served 50% of their sentence with no follow-up in the community necessarily going to be in place and no opportunity to bring them back into prison if they don’t comply.”

Scottish Tory leader Annabel Goldie said the new legislation still provided for prisoners getting out halfway through their sentence.

“Despite what Cathy Jamieson said today, it does not address the problem and ignores the fact that the most anyone can serve is three-quarters of their total sentence, regardless of whether or not they are safe to release,” she said.

“The Executive’s forthcoming changes to the law, despite all rhetoric to the contrary, do not bring honesty in sentencing.

“Currently, an offender sentenced to six years will spend four years in jail.

“Under the First Minister’s proposed system, that offender could spend three years in jail.

“How is that a completely new way of dealing with sentencing—and how on earth will it make Scotland a safer place?”