How many prisoners have been mistakenly released from Scottish prisons in each of the last five years, including 2025-26 to date.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:A range of checks are carried out before the release of a prisoner is authorised including but not limited to, an identity check of the person, confirmation of liberation date and a check for any known outstanding warrants.A liberation in error occurs when an individual is released from a Scottish Prison Service establishment without lawful authority. This situation typically arises due to an administrative or procedural mistake, such as incorrect interpretation of documentation, miscalculation of sentence dates or incorrect data sharing from other partners.The following table provides the numbers of total liberations and the liberations in error since 2021-2022, up to and including 13 November 2025:YearTotal Annual LiberationsRecorded Liberations in ErrorLiberations in Error as a percentage2021-221393450.04%2022-231476980.06%2023-241573270.05%2024-251638790.06%2025-26*990130.02%TOTAL70723320.04%*up to 13 November 2025