A Sheriff hit out at the prison service after a drug dealer was let out on a tag a quarter of the way into his sentence.
Sheriff Margaret Neilson questioned the decision by the Scottish Prison Service to approve the early release of a convicted drug dealer on the electronic tag.
Sheriff Neilson was sitting at Inverness Sheriff Court yesterday when 39-year-old John Ross, of Church Street, Inverness, appeared before her from custody.
Through defence solicitor Duncan Henderson, Ross confirmed he was pleading not guilty to a charge of possessing pliers and a glove which inferred he was about to commit a theft in Telford Road on February 17.
Mr Henderson said he was instructed by his client to apply for bail.
Fiscal depute Robert Weir said he was opposing bail “mainly due to the fact the accused has an unexpired part of a sentence.”
Sheriff Neilson said: “He was jailed for 12 months in November for being concerned in the supply of drugs.
“He was released on a tag by the prison on February 16 and the date of this offence was February 17. The court has no control over what the prison service do.
“But apparently they view being concerned in the supply of drugs merits an early release on a tag.”
She told Ross: “Given your record and your recent release on a tag, bail will be refused and you will be remanded in custody.”
An intermediate diet was fixed for March 14 and trial on March 27.
A Scottish Prison Service spokesman said: “We don’t comment on individual cases. But the tagging process for many hundreds of individuals is by and large successful. Each and every one has first to go through a rigorous risk assessment process.
“There are certain categories of prisoners who are excluded from consideration for a tag.
“If a prisoner is arrested shortly after being placed on a tag, then it would affect any future decision.”