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So those teams are not based in a specific prison—they are used for the whole prison estate.

Would you support the use of electronic monitoring? I gather that you do not think that that is necessary for people who are released from prison early at the moment.

I am just aware that we already have a presumption against short sentences and in favour of bail being granted rather than someone being held on remand, and I am thinking about the consequences of that, and about a victim knowing that the prisoner is going to get out of prison anything from a month to six months early. It might be better if the court could say that the person should be subject to electronic monitoring or given a community payback order rather than just being released without any other penalty.

The cabinet secretary’s letter says that the process would be used

“if they think that they would pose an immediate risk of harm to a specified individual or group of individuals if released.”

How would that information come to you?

A few comments have been made about early release being a breathing space and not much more, and having medium and long-term plans has been mentioned a few times. Have those medium and long-term plans been written down, and are you in discussion with the Scottish Government on those? Do we have medium and long-term plans? Obviously, this is just a breathing space, so what are we going to do to improve the situation for the future?

One thing that has been mentioned is looking at the whole system to see what we need to improve or change. We have mentioned supervised bail hostels, remand centres, what I might describe as a kind of secure care home for some of the ageing prison population, which has a lot of health needs, and perhaps a secure mental health unit for those who have severe mental health problems. Are those things just being talked about or is anybody in discussion with the Scottish Government on them? Is the Scottish Government actually taking action on those?

We have, for example, a presumption against short sentences and a presumption for bail. However, earlier, you mentioned that there is now an increased remand population. Has that approach worked or has it just moved people away from having short sentences to a situation where we have repeat offenders who eventually end up in jail on remand, sometimes for a substantial time before they are seen at court? Is that approach working?

Will conversations happen in advance to make sure that somebody who is going to be released will not be released unless there is safe accommodation for them to go to? I have heard stories where somebody has been released and it has not been until 4 o’clock that afternoon that they have known where they were going to stay that night. Will there be conversations with family members if there are instances in which family members might be concerned about a person’s early release?

Are you surprised that the PIRC has not sent any policies to HMICS to review?

It seems that, as the issue has been highlighted quite a few times in our evidence, ministers might want to direct a review.