Prisoners who break jail rules 'should be barred from early release'

New figures have revealed the number of inmates who broke the rules increased from 6,017 in 2022 to 6,659 the following year, and reached a peak of 6,904 in 2024.

In the first seven months of this year alone, 4,556 prisoners have broken the rules, according to figures obtained by the Scottish Conservatives under under Freedom of Information laws.

Meanwhile, the number of individual rule breaks increased by 44 per cent between 2022 and 2024, rising from 22,318 in 2022 to 30,926 the following year, before increasing again to 32,128 in 2024.

With the data also showing a further 14,618 rule breaks in the first seven months of 2025, there has been a total of 99,990 rule breaks over the period January 2022 to July 2025.

One individual prisoner is responsible for 143 rule breaches, the statistics showed, with other inmates having accrued 111 and 105 breaches while in custody.

Meanwhile, 60 of the 312 prisoners who were freed early in February and March this year as part of Scottish Government efforts to tackle overcrowding were reported to have broken prison rules during their time in jail.

Holyrood last year passed legislation to change the release point for those criminals serving prison sentences of under four years, so they will be freed after 40 per cent of their sentence, down from 50 per cent.

Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Liam Kerr said: “No inmate who is found breaking prison rules should be considered for early release. At least somewhere in the justice system criminals need to realise that actions have consequences.

“These alarming figures are symptomatic of a prison system being utterly failed by a complacent SNP government making up policy on the hoof.

“If prisoners are willing to break the rules in the controlled environment of a prison, then they will have no problem breaking the law and endangering communities when they are back on the streets.

“The rising number of rule breaches shows clearly that prisoners feel emboldened to do whatever they want behind bars, knowing their actions won’t impact on their prospects of early release under a government desperate to cover its long-term failures with short-term, knee-jerk responses.

“Victims will feel that justice isn’t being served but this also shows that the SNP aren’t even equipping our prisons to properly rehabilitate offenders.”

A Scottish Prison Service spokesperson said: “Our population, which is already extremely high and complex, continues to rise rapidly.

“This has an increasingly destabilising effect on our establishments, with staff unable to do the critical work of building relationships and supporting rehabilitation, and prisoners frustrated by the impact on their daily lives and the opportunities available to them.

“We need to see a reduction in our population, so we fully support people in our care, reduce their risk of reoffending, and help build the safer communities we all want to see.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The rising and increasingly complex prison population remains a major challenge as it does across the UK and we are taking sustained action to reduce it.

“Breaches of prison rules are already considered as part of release decision making, where it is relevant and appropriate to do so.”