Scottish Ministers have made the Early Release of Prisoners (Scotland) Regulations 2025, using powers in section 3C of the Prisoners and Criminal Proceedings (Scotland) Act 1993. The instrument was made on 6 November 2025, comes into force on 10 November 2025, and was approved by the Scottish Parliament under section 3D. Ministers state the measure is necessary and proportionate in response to an emergency situation affecting prisons, to protect security, good order, and the health, safety and welfare of people in custody and staff.
The Regulations apply to all prisons in Scotland, including young offenders institutions. A latest release date of 30 April 2026 is set as a hard backstop for anyone released under this scheme. Where operational issues prevent release during the scheduled window, release must occur as soon as reasonably practicable but no later than that backstop.
Eligibility is tightly defined. Only individuals serving sentences of less than four years are considered, and only if they meet one of the specified custody “snapshot” dates and are already due for release under section 1(1) or 7(1)(a) of the 1993 Act within the stated 180‑day periods linked to each tranche. Anyone meeting an exclusion in the Regulations is not eligible, even if they otherwise meet the sentence length and timing tests.
For those in custody on 20 October 2025 and due for release within 180 days of the Regulations commencing on 10 November, early release is staged across three mid‑week windows determined by proximity to the original liberation date: within 60 days released between 11 and 13 November 2025; more than 60 but within 120 days released between 25 and 27 November 2025; more than 120 but within 180 days released between 9 and 11 December 2025.
Further tranches are linked to later custody snapshots. Individuals serving sentences of less than four years who are in custody on 15 December 2025 and due for release within 180 days of 26 January 2026 are to be released between 27 and 29 January 2026. Those in custody on 30 January 2026 and due within 180 days of 23 February 2026 are to be released between 24 and 26 February 2026.
The final two tranches run in March and April 2026. Those in custody on 27 February 2026 and due within 180 days of 23 March 2026 are to be released between 24 and 26 March 2026. Those in custody on 27 March 2026 and due within 180 days of 27 April 2026 are to be released between 28 and 30 April 2026. All windows are Tuesday to Thursday, supporting service resilience and post‑release arrangements mid‑week.
Exclusions are explicit and broad where domestic abuse risk indicators are present. A person is not eligible if they have served a sentence for an offence aggravated by domestic abuse as described in section 1(1)(a) of the Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm (Scotland) Act 2016, recorded under section 1(5)(b), and that conviction is not yet spent under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 at the scheduled early‑release date. The same applies to any person with an unspent conviction for an offence under section 1(1) of the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018.
Public‑protection measures extend to civil orders. Anyone who is the subject of a non‑harassment order imposed under section 234A of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 or under sections 8 or 8A of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 is excluded from early release. In addition, anyone sentenced to imprisonment or detention on or after 28 March 2026 is outside scope, even if other tests are met.
There is a narrow route back in for some excluded on domestic‑abuse grounds. If the relevant conviction becomes spent before the 30 April 2026 backstop, the person must then be released as soon as reasonably practicable, subject to the same hard deadline. This provision ensures the exclusions track the status of prior convictions over the life of the scheme.
The Regulations cross‑refer to section 1(1) and section 7(1)(a) of the 1993 Act. In practice this means they cover those due for unconditional release under section 1(1) and those due for conditional release under section 7(1)(a), provided the sentence is under four years and the timed windows are met. Young offenders institutions are expressly included through the definition of “prisons”.
For practitioners, the operational tasks are immediate. The Scottish Prison Service must schedule case management and liberation activity into seven three‑day windows between November 2025 and April 2026, aligning health, housing and supervision arrangements to revised dates. Legal and records teams will need to verify the “spent” status of any relevant domestic‑abuse convictions close to release and check for current non‑harassment orders, as these determine eligibility at the point of release. Victim‑safety exclusions and the April backstop constrain discretion and should be factored into local planning across justice and community partners.
The instrument is a discrete, time‑limited response to a declared emergency in the prison estate. It does not alter headline eligibility beyond those defined snapshots, the less‑than‑four‑years threshold, and the listed exclusions. The scheme ends on 30 April 2026, after which routine release provisions under the 1993 Act continue to apply without the extraordinary staging set out here.