Emergency powers allowing ministers to release prisoners from jail early during the coronavirus outbreak will only be used as a "last resort", First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said.
The Coronavirus (Scotland) Bill, which is being rushed through Holyrood on Wednesday, will allow for inmates to be freed before the end of their sentence.
Papers submitted to Holyrood alongside the legislation said this could take place if it is deemed to be a "necessary and proportionate response to the effects of coronavirus on a prison or prisons".
In addition, the Bill allows for trials to go ahead without juries to "ensure that criminal justice systems can continue to operate during the coronavirus restrictions".
Speaking about the prospect of prisoners being freed, the First Minister said: "That is a power we would only use as a last resort.
"As is the case with many of these powers, they are there as a contingency so we have them should we need them."
She added: "This is not something we will do lightly and hopefully we will not require to do at all."
Constitutional Relations Secretary Mike Russell said safeguards have been built in the legislation so convicts will not be released if they are deemed to pose an "immediate risk of harm to an identified person".
Those prisoners serving a life sentence, or anyone convicted of terrorism or sexual crimes, will not be permitted to be released early, he said.
He added regulations will have to be approved by MSPs for an early release to take place.
Russell said: "This is not saying that this is going to take place, it is creating the circumstances in which it could take place if there was, for example, a substantial increase in the cases within the prison service.
"We are not at that stage but the power has to be there in case it is needed."
Regarding the prospect of trials taking place without juries, Sturgeon she does not believe this will lead to an increase in miscarriages of justice.
The legislation sets out that when a judge is hearing a serious case, which is proceeding before the court on indictment, without a jury, they must set out the reasons for their verdict.
The First Minister noted there are "many countries where serious crimes are taken through the courts without juries".
She said: "I'm a believer in the jury system, I should add, but this is an exceptional measure to deal with exceptional times, at a time when for good health reasons juries are not being empanelled right now.
"The alternative is not to have cases proceed and therefore to have provision for cases to proceed in this way I think is sensible."
John Mulholland, president of the Law Society of Scotland said the proposal for serious cases to be tried without a jury was "one of the most fundamental changes to our justice system ever contemplated".
He said the Law Society would seek the views of those affected on whether the change is "proportionate and justified" and would scrutinise, monitor and review the proposed amendments.
The Faculty of Advocates' Scottish Criminal Bar Association also opposes plans to hold trials in serious cases without a jury.
Meanwhile, the Scottish Liberal Democrats have laid amendments to the Bill objecting to the proposal for trials without juries, calling for these types of cases to be suspended until new places are found where courts can meet enabling jurors to comply with social distancing.
Scottish Tory MSP Murdo Fraser said: "Trial by jury for serious criminal cases has been part of the Scottish justice system for hundreds of years.
"It is an important safeguard of human rights which we would be most reluctant to see removed.
"We believe there are ways to work around that particular problem without ending trial by jury altogether."
