The Scottish Conservatives are demanding that inmates who break prison rules be exempt from early release, in response to a surge in jail rules breaches.
The number of Scottish prisoners who have broken prison rules has increased every year since 2022, with almost 100,000 rule breaks in that time, according to new figures obtained by the Scottish Conservatives.
Responses to Freedom of Information requests reveal that the number of inmates who have broken prison rules increased from 6,017 in 2022 to 6,659 in 2023 and reached a peak of 6,904 in 2024. There have already been 4,556 prisoners who have broken the rules in the first seven months of 2025.
The figures also reveal that the number of individual rule breaks increased by 44% between 2022 and 2024 – rising from 22,318 rule breaks in 2022 to 32,128 in 2024. There have been 99,990 rule breaks between January 2022 and July 2025.
Some prisoners have racked up huge numbers of breaches, with one breaking the rules 143 separate times. This comes after it was revealed that one in five inmates released early this year had broken prison rules while behind bars.
Shadow justice secretary Liam Kerr has condemned the “complacent” SNP government for letting down victims and endangering communities by letting rule-breakers out early.
Scottish Conservative shadow justice secretary Liam Kerr MSP said: “No inmate who is found breaking prison rules should be considered for early release.
“At least somewhere in the justice system criminals need to realise that actions have consequences.
“These alarming figures are symptomatic of a prison system being utterly failed by a complacent SNP government making up policy on the hoof.
“If prisoners are willing to break the rules in the controlled environment of a prison, then they will have no problem breaking the law and endangering communities when they are back on the streets.
“The rising number of rule breaches shows clearly that prisoners feel emboldened to do whatever they want behind bars, knowing their actions won’t impact on their prospects of early release under a government desperate to cover its long-term failures with short-term, knee-jerk responses.
“Victims will feel that justice isn’t being served but this also shows that the SNP aren’t even equipping our prisons to properly rehabilitate offenders.”
Notes to editors:
The number of Scottish prisoners who have broken prison rules has increased every year since 2022. The number of prisoners who have broken prison rules increased from 6,017 in 2022 to 6,659 in 2023 and reached a peak of 6,904 in 2024. There have already been 4,556 prisoners who have broken the rules in just the first 7 months of 2025. (SPS FOI, 29 July 2025, available upon request)
The number of individual rule breaks increased by 44% between 2022 and 2024. Individual rule breaks rose from 22,318 rule breaks in 2022 to 30,926 in 2023 and hit a peak of 32,128 in 2024. There have been 14,618 rule breaks in the first 7 months of 2025 and 99,990 total rule breaks between January 2022 and July 2025. (SPS FOI, 29 July 2025, available upon request)
Some prisoners have racked up huge numbers of rule breaks with one breaking the rules 143 separate times. Out of those who are still in custody, those with the top five highest number of rule breaks had broken the rules 143 times, 111 times, 105 times, 98 times, and 94 times. (SPS FOI, 29 July 2025, available upon request)
1 in 5 prisoners released early this year had broken prison rules behind bars. 312 prisoners were released early in February and March 2025 by the SNP Government, but 60 of these had broken prison rules while behind bars. (STV News, 8 April 2025, link)
1 in 10 prisoners released early in June and July 2024 were back behind bars within weeks for committing crimes. 477 prisoners were released early in Summer 2024 and 57 were back in prison within weeks, with 12 only out for 10 days or less. They were returned for crimes including non-sexual crimes of violence, damage and reckless behaviour, and crimes against society. (Emergency Early Release - September 2024 Data Analysis, 2 October 2024, link)
There are over 250 assaults on prison staff by inmates every year in Scotland. There have been 2,562 prisoner-on-staff assaults over the past decade, with an average of 256 a year. At the Government-run HMP Barlinnie, there have been nearly 3,000 assaults recorded since 2015/16. This includes 2,601 by one prisoner against another, and 365 incidents against a member of staff. (The Scotsman, 28 December 2024, link; STV News, 28 December, link)
Ambulance call outs to HMP Kilmarnock increased by 231% between 2023 and 2024, following nationalisation on 17 March 2024. The Scottish Prison Service revealed there were 106 ambulance call outs to HMP Kilmarnock in 2024, compared to 32 in 2023 and 14 in 2022. This is a 231% increase from 2023 to 2024. There were 49 call outs in the first three and a half months of 2025 alone, which is more than triple the number there were in the entirety of 2022 under private management. (Scottish Conservative FOI, 10 April 2025, available on request).