LONG-TERM prisoners could be released after serving two-thirds of their sentence under SNP Scottish government plans to manage the ballooning prison population.

An emergency release of 500 individuals is already underway to manage overcrowding, but justice secretary Angela Constance has now opened a consultation on proposals to revert to the two-thirds policy ditched by her party in 2016 in favour of blanket six-month early release under licence. 

The urgency to tackle overcrowding comes amid concerns it may be behind an 8 per cent rise in reconviction rates on the latest (2020-21) figures, bucking a long-term trend of a 29.6 per cent fall over the previous decade.