Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill is to make a statement to MSPs later about a prisoner who raped a schoolgirl while on the run from an open prison.
Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill has apologised to a schoolgirl raped by a man on the run from an open prison.
Robert Foye was serving a sentence for the attempted murder of a policeman when he absconded from Castle Huntly, near Dundee, in August.
Robert Foye absconded from Castle Huntly open jail before carrying out the attack in Cumbernauld in August.
He had previously run away but was sent back to an open jail despite being classed as a "high risk" reoffender.
Mr MacAskill also told the Scottish Parliament that Scotland's two open prisons, currently run jointly, would get separate governors.
Public concern about the case has already led to tightening of the rules.
And he again warned any prisoners absconding in future were likely to be sent back to a normal jail.
Mr MacAskill will make a statement on the case at Holyrood, following Tory demands.
Foye was serving a sentence for the attempted murder of a policeman when he absconded from Castle Huntly, near Dundee.
Tory justice spokesman Bill Aitken said: "Kenny MacAskill must not hide behind the impending McLeish Prisons report but instead tell us how he is going to create a prison regime that works, rather than one that is a laughing stock to the public and convicts alike and completely fails to protect society."
'Brave woman'
Foye attacked the 16-year-old in Cumbernauld after he had been on the run for almost a week.
He had previously run away, but was sent back to an open jail despite there being a "high risk" of him reoffending.
Transferring prisoners
Mr MacAskill paid tribute to the "fortitude and resilience" of Foye's 16-year-old victim in trying to rebuild her life.
He was half way through a 10-year sentence for attempting to murder a policeman in 2002 when he absconded.
He told MSPs: "I apologise unreservedly to her for the shortcomings within our prison system that have allowed this individual to put her through such pain.
It was the second time he had run away from the open prison, having previously gone on the run in 2005.
"I will be meeting the brave, young woman and her family soon to give her that apology in person, and with it the admiration and good wishes of this whole parliament."
Michael Duffy from the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) said Foye was classed as high risk for some particular offences but not the type of crime he went on to commit.
The Scottish Prison Service is tightening the rules in the wake of the case, and pointed out Foye was classed as high risk for some particular offences but not the type of crime he went on to commit.
A government-ordered report recommended seven changes be made to the system of transferring prisoners to open jails.
Mr Duffy said the SPS had already set up a team to implement the recommendations.
The report also found there was "always a possibility" that Foye would abscond.
However, prison bosses insisted it could not have been predicted that he would go on to commit rape.
