By Steve Bargeton, political editor

MINISTERS HAVE ordered prison chiefs not to send criminals to open prisons if they have gone on the run in the past.

The move follows the case of the offender who absconded from Castle Huntly open prison near Dundee and raped a schoolgirl.

A report this week revealed that Robert Foye had previously absconded from the same prison in 2005.

In Parliament yesterday First Minister Alex Salmond revealed that Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill had asked for there to be a presumption offenders would not be allowed back into the open estate if they had absconded before.

Further details are expected when the justice secretary makes a statement to MSPs at Holyrood next week.

At Question Time Scottish Tory leader Annabel Goldie accused the First Minister of wanting to put convicts back into the community, saying, “The public wants prisoners in prison. The SNP Government wants convicts in the community.”

“Who would have thought that when the SNP cried freedom they had in mind the prison population.”

And she challenged the Government’s plans to extend home detention curfews, saying, “Instead of being soft on the prison population, will the Scottish Government be strong for victims, stand up for the public of Scotland and abandon the impending disaster of home detention curfews.”

But Mr Salmond hit back, pointing out that more criminals absconded from open prisons when the Tories were in power.

He said this year’s 66 cases were “66 too many” but claimed there had been 98 cases of absconding from an open prison population of 290 in the last year of the Tory Government.