A faulty computer system could have potentially let hundreds of criminals out of jail when they were not to be released.
The worrisome blunder, which may have wrongly set free hundreds of caged criminals including those serving life sentences, was branded 'scandalous' by a Conservative MSP.
West Scotland representative Jamie Greene slammed the Scottish Government after justice secretary Keith Brown revealed the error in parliament.
Mr Greene said: “It is scandalous that hundreds of criminals may have been wrongly released from prison when they should still be serving sentences.
“The public may have been at risk as a result of this horrendous blunder and there are still many unanswered questions about the scale of this issue or how it was allowed to happen.
“We need to know urgently from the SNP how many criminals were wrongly released from prison early, and the government must now guarantee that no prisoners are released whose risk assessment is, or even might be, wrong.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson commented: “The LS/CMI tool is only one part of a comprehensive system of risk assessment and management which involves professional judgement.
“There are additional risk assessment tools specifically related to violent offending, sexual offending, and intimate partner violence and stalking which are used across the justice system.
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“While open cases are presently being reviewed and the risk management authority are leading a further review of all cases this error may affect, it remains the case that no public protection issues have been identified in any returns from users of the system to date.
“The cabinet secretary for justice undertook to provide an updated position to the justice committee this week.”
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