Automatic Early Release of Prisoners Under Fire After Kriss Donald Murder Trial

Opposition politicians are demanding reform of the automatic early release of prisoners after it emerged that one of the gang members who murdered Kriss Donald, 15, had been freed three months before the attack after serving just half of his sentence for a previous violent offence. Imran Shahid, 29, was jailed for 2 years in September 2002 for a road-rage attack on Margaret McGregor, a social worker, and was released in December 2003 after serving 15 months. He went on to murder Kriss on March 15, 2004.

Key Takeaways:

• Imran Shahid, one of the gang members who murdered Kriss Donald, had been freed three months before the attack after serving just half of his sentence for a previous violent offence.
• Shahid was jailed for 2 years in September 2002 for a road-rage attack on Margaret McGregor, a social worker, and was released in December 2003 after serving 15 months.
• If Shahid had served his full term, he would have been released in March 2005, but he was released in December 2003 and went on to murder Kriss Donald in March 2004.
• The Scottish Conservative Party leader, Annabel Goldie, has called for an end to automatic early release, stating that it is a system that has been "completely discredited" and has failed to prevent further crimes.
• The Scottish National Party leader, Nicola Sturgeon, has also demanded reform, stating that people who are a danger to society and who are given lengthy prison sentences should actually serve those sentences and not be freed after half their sentences to go on to commit further crimes.
• The Executive's current proposals to change the automatic early release system, announced in June, would still mean prisoners getting out of jail halfway through their sentences.

Statistics:

• Imran Shahid was freed in December 2003 after serving 15 months of a 2-year sentence.
• Kriss Donald was murdered on March 15, 2004, three months after Shahid's release.
• The changes proposed by the Executive in June would require offenders sentenced to more than two weeks to spend at least 50% of their sentence behind bars.
• Currently, prisoners serving less than four years are freed automatically halfway through their term, usually without conditions, while those sentenced to more than four years are released on licence after serving two thirds of their sentence.

Sources:

• The Times, 2006
• Telegraph.co.uk
• The Scottish Conservative Party
• The Scottish National Party
• The Executive (Scottish Government)