Prisoners Letters

These letters are printed without edit and are the words and views of people serving the OLR Sentence.

They may not represent the views of NOLR.

I want to be clear that NOLR would never minimise the harm caused by offenders. The impact on victims and communities is real and lasting, and any justice system must take that harm seriously.

However, I believe the OLR sentence is flawed in how it responds to that harm. The criteria set for risk assessment means that lesser offences get caught in the same net as the ‘exceptional’ offender the OLR was designed for.

Risk assessments which are controversial and can be poorly completed are being used to predict future behaviour, something they were never designed for. We should all be concerned at a system which imprisons people for things they haven’t yet done and may never do.

Indefinite imprisonment with few opportunities for rehabilitation damages Scotland’s reputation and risks breaching its Human Rights obligations, as stated by the Scottish Human Rights Commission and the UN. They and others, including ourselves, believe that the OLR as it currently exists, undermines principles of fairness and proportionality, particularly when individuals are held beyond what is necessary for public safety.

This is not an argument for leniency or for ignoring the seriousness of offences. Rather, it is a call for a system that is both just and effective—one that protects the public while also ensuring human rights are upheld, punishment is proportionate, transparent, and relates to the offence committed.