Open prison in Scotland leads to brutal crime

Scotsman:

AN URGENT review of Scotland's open prisons was demanded last night after it emerged that a prisoner released to attend an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting savagely raped a girl of 16.

Robert Foye, 28, had been allowed out of Castle Huntly open jail, near Dundee, and had been on the run for almost a week when he carried out the vicious attack on the teenager.

There is widespread concern that a man jailed for ten years for attempting to murder a police officer was given the opportunity to commit such a crime.

...

Some 50 prisoners have absconded from Scotland's two open prisons – Castle Huntly and Noranside, near Forfar – since last April. Most fail to return from work placements or home visits, although some have just walked out of prisons designed to give inmates a degree of freedom before they can be considered for release, mainly to test their likelihood of reoffending.

Previous incidents involving inmates from open prisons include John Campbell, who murdered his brother's girlfriend while on unsupervised leave from Castle Huntly in 2005.

Last night, it was unclear why Foye, from Cumbernauld, was considered suitable for an open prison. However, the sheer horror of his attack on the girl, who attended a fee-paying school in Glasgow, sparked demands for an immediate examination of the open-prison system.

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This is further of evidence that when it comes to crime and punishment liberals are not as smart as they think they are. It is pretty clear that Mr. Foye has flunked the "test (of his) ... likelihood of reoffending." We will have to see if the Scots flunk the test of intelligence by putting him back in the program.

Meanwhile the Daily Mail reports, "Criminals are being treated to £250-a-night bed and breakfast in private homes on residential streets instead of being held in jail."

I don't think it cost that much to keep prisoners in a super max facility in the US. It is clear that the UK needs to build more prisons.