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Review into Foye case
24/01/2008
An urgent internal review is to be carried out by the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) into the case of prisoner Robert Foye, Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill announced today.
Foye admitted raping a 16-year-old girl in Cumbernauld in August last year whilst at large having failed to return to the SPS Open Estate from a meeting with Alcoholics Anonymous in Dundee. He was previously sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment for the attempted murder of a policeman.
Mr MacAskill said:
"I wish to extend my deepest sympathies to the victim and her family in this case. This is clearly a disturbing incident and I have asked the Chief Executive of the SPS to carry out an urgent internal review into this specific case.
"I have also today written to Henry McLeish, the chair of the Independent Prisons Commission, asking him to ensure that the role of the open estate should be considered as part of his wide-ranging work on the future of prisons in Scotland.
"Open prisons are an integral part of the rehabilitation process and the transfer of prisoners to these facilities only happens following an assessment of risk. Allowing long term prisoners controlled access to the community is a proven method of assessing their suitability for parole. It will never be possible to totally eliminate risk. However the SPS do take and must take the issue of absconding very seriously indeed. Therefore as Justice Secretary I want the SPS to look at this case and see whether any lessons can be learned around more effective assessment procedures.
"While I believe we can turn lives around through prevention, early intervention, and true rehabilitation, we expect violent, sexual, and serious and organised criminals to be fully punished and the public protected. Those who do offend will face the consequences of their actions - and prison will always be a major part of that.
"Prison will always be needed for serious and dangerous offenders. We must use prison to both punish and rehabilitate. We must also capitalise on the work done in prison to ensure that these offenders are properly managed throughout their sentence to reduce their risk to the public and stop them reoffending when they are eventually released."