Thanks once more to Dottie for alerting me to this.

From Channel 4 last night, the above, and:

Thousands of killers, rapists and sex offenders could be released early this September under the government’s latest plans to ease overcrowding in prisons in England and Wales.

But there are growing calls for sex offenders to be excluded from the scheme.

Source: https://www.channel4.com/news/survivors-demand-government-exempt-sex-offenders-from-early-release-plan

Scotland has implemented emergency early release schemes due to prison overcrowding but with clear statutory exclusions for sex offenders. Anyone serving a sentence (in whole or in part) for sexual offences, domestic abuse, or who is a registered sex offender is not eligible for these early releases. gov.scot

Additional safeguards include governor vetoes for risk, extra exclusions for domestic abuse history.

This has been consistent across 2025–2026 releases with hundreds freed in batches, but no sex offenders.

Overall, Scotland’s emergency schemes for short-term prisoners have stronger, explicit protections against early release of sex offenders compared to the England and Wales. This reflects a policy priority on victim safety and public confidence in those specific schemes.

Source: https://www.gov.scot/news/parliament-approves-emergency-prisoner-release-scheme/