Thank you. That concludes general questions. The next item of business is First Minister's

questions. At question number one, I call Russell Finley.

Thank you, President. Just weeks ago, the SNP released almost 500 prisoners early before they had served

their sentences. And in 98% of these cases, victims were not even told. The government is now considering the early release of some of the most dangerous criminals in Scotland.

I would like to ask, does John Swinney believe that this is the right thing to do?

First Minister.

I understand the seriousness of the issues that Mr Finley puts to me today, and we have

to address the rising prison population in a sustainable and effective way. The Government

took measures which were explained fully to Parliament, and they only took place once we

had parliamentary consent to the steps that we took.

My view fundamentally is that there is a difficulty about the rise in the prison population.

The prison population this morning is sitting at 8,322.

It's at a very high level and ministers are concerned for the well-being of prison officers' staff

and for prisoners as a consequence of the level of congestion there is in our prisons.

So we have to act and the Cabinet Secretary will give a statement to Parliament this afternoon

on these issues.

Russell Finley.

In 2015, John Swinney's Government ended automatic early release of prisoners serving sentences

of more than four years.

My party voted against it because we believe it should have gone further by applying to

both short and long-term prisoners, and so did the SNP at least at one stage.

Nicholas Sturgeon even said, and I quote,

...