A report yesterday revealed the 28-year-old, who was in prison for the attempted murder of a police officer, was considered a suitable candidate to be in an open jail despite having a high risk of re-offending.

Mr Don said, “It’s not a whitewash, but it is a greywash. It takes you through what the prison service did without saying exactly what they did.

“What they are trying to say is that it is not particularly unusual for people to re-offend.

“What was different in this case was that his history did not suggest he was going to rape a girl.”

Mr Don questioned whether a man such as Foye, a “not especially bright guy with alcohol and drug problems”, should have been allowed to walk the streets. But the politician said many of the wider issues raised could only be resolved by society as a whole.

Foye attacked the 16-year-old in August last year and had been on the run for almost a week beforehand.

It was the second time he had absconded from the open prison, having previously gone on the run in 2005.

He admitted the rape when he appeared at the High Court in Glasgow and is to be sentenced in May.

Judge Lady Smith has told him he faces being put under strict supervision for the rest of his life because of his high risk of re-offending.

Today Michael Duffy, the director of prisons for the Scottish Prison Service, said they were looking at how to strengthen their procedures.

But he added offenders classed as being high risk could still be transferred to open jails.

Mr Duffy said, “We accept what has happened on this occasion is obviously not acceptable to us or the public and what we’ve got to do is beef it up in every single way we can and that’s what we’re trying to do.”

The report recommended seven changes be made to the system of transferring prisoners to open jails and Mr Duffy said the SPS had already set up a team to implement this.

The report also found there was “always a possibility” Foye would abscond, but added it “could not have been predicted” he would go on to commit rape. Mr Duffy said Foye was classed as high risk for some particular offences only, and not for the type of offence he went on to commit.

He also said when prison staff considered whether someone was suitable for an open jail they looked at a variety of factors, including a risk assessment and behaviour while in prison.

Mr Duffy said, “If the whole package suggests the person is OK for open prison then they can approve the transfer.”

He added, “What happened to that young girl we find appalling and, from a prison service point of view, we regret it very much, the suffering to her and her family. What we’ve got to do is strengthen our process.”

When asked if a high risk prisoner could still in the future be considered for transfer to an open jail, he said, “It could happen, but the high risk factors might come from things that happened 10 years ago.

“What we have to do is look at things that are more recent in a person’s history and they may counter balance the other stuff. We’ve got to get a broad view of how somebody is.”