Victims of serious crime feel "forgotten" after John Swinney admitted the early release of almost 500 prisoners had failed to tackle overcrowding as planned, a charity has warned.

The charity, Victim Support Scotland, said the First Minister's comments were "disheartening" and has urged the Scottish Government to reform a crucial scheme which updates those impacted by crimes of their case.

In June and July, 477 inmates were released from Scottish prisons early in an emergency attempt to solve soaring overcrowding.

The scheme allowed the early release of those who had been sentenced to less than four years in jail and had less than 180 left to serve.

It did not apply to people convicted of sexual or domestic abuse offences.

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However, official figures showed that more than a third of those released were serving sentences for violent crimes, while victims were not automatically notified.

Mr Swinney said on Wednesday that the scheme had not achieved its aim.

The Scottish Prison Service last week said the overall prison population was 8,241 - higher than the 8,232 before the programme began in late June.

The First Minister told Holyrood's Conveners Group: "We still face a serious situation and I fully expect the Justice Secretary to have to come back to Parliament about the current situation.

"Because although the release of 477 prisoners during June and July as part of the early release scheme has helped, it has not solved the situation."

Kate Wallace, chief executive of Victim Support Scotland, told The Herald: "It is clear the emergency early release scheme has not worked as intended. 

"We are disappointed by sadly not surprised, as we argued vehemently this this would be the outcome.

She said it was "disheartening" that "lessons have not been learned" from a pandemic scheme which released 348 prisoners.

It has also been revealed that just 2% of victims were notified about the release of a prisoner in this case, causing what Ms Wallace described as "unnecessary trauma".

The Victim Notification Scheme came into force in 2004 - but victims must request the information themselves or through dedicated charities.

Ms Wallace said: "Victims have not been prioritised in this case. Our view is that these low numbers do not mean that victims do not want to know - it means that there has been a lack of focus on identifying and communicating effectively with victims about the prisoner in their case.

"It highlights the long-awaited requirement to radically overhaul the Victim Notification Scheme."

A review of the notification scheme last year found the system was not "trauma informed", with some victims stating they felt there was more onus on the rights of the offender than theirs.

Ms Wallace said: "It highlights the long-awaited requirement to radically overhaul the Victim Notification Scheme. A response to, and implementation of, recommendations following the review have been outstanding since May 2023.

"This was urgently needed then and it is urgently needed now.

"We are asking the government to respond to these recommendations swiftly so that victims can be adequately warned and prepared when the perpetrator in their case is release - at the moment, victims feel unheard and forgotten by the justice system." 

She said the emergency release had suffered "unnecessary trauma and anxiety".

Scottish Labour justice spokeswoman Pauline McNeill said: "The SNP government's failure to properly notify victims about the early release of prisoners is nothing short of scandalous. 

"It's clear that warnings from organisations like Victim Support Scotland were ignored and victims were not prioritised or supported.

"It is bad enough that prisoners were released early because the SNP let prisons reach crisis point, and the SNP's disastrous handling of the matter has enflamed the situation even more.

“Ensuring victims were notified should have been a fundamental requirement of any early release scheme. 

“The SNP must take urgent action to improve its Victim Notification Scheme, as well as dealing with the chaos in Scotland’s prisons by modernising the prison estate and tackling the courts backlog.”

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A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The previous emergency release process was required to ensure prisons could continue to function safely and effectively.

“Emergency release was a short-term measure, for eligible prisoners who were within 180 days of their scheduled release – around 65% of those eligible were within 90 days.

"We made arrangements during the emergency release process so that victims could access information about the release of the prisoner in their case, if they wanted to receive it. We are well aware that not everyone wants to receive this.  

“Victims already registered with the two Victim Notification Schemes were automatically informed.

"We also worked with Victim Support Organisations, including Victim Support Scotland, to create new arrangements that enable them to quickly obtain the information from the SPS on behalf of victims, or for members of the public to contact the prison service direct.”

A Scottish Prison Service spokesperson said the service had been "open and transparent" in publishing the number of individuals released early.

Of those released early this summer, 188 were serving a sentence for non-sexual crimes of violence.

Just over 100 were serving dishonesty sentences while just under 100 were imprisoned for crimes against society.