The rape of a teenage girl by a man who absconded while on day release from jail yesterday sparked two reviews of the use of open prisons.

The conviction of Robert Foye, who was already serving a 10-year sentence for attempted murder of a policeman, raised serious questions about the high numbers of escapes from the Castle Huntly open prison near Dundee, one of two open prisons in Scotland.

As overcrowding has risen in Sottish jails, more people have been judged to be sufficiently low risk for open prison. But absconding has risen steeply to 75 in 2006-07 and 65 since last spring, most of them from Castle Huntly.

After Labour's Wendy Alexander and Scottish Tory leader Annabel Goldie yesterday put pressure on the Scottish Government, Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill demanded an urgent review of the Foye case from the Scottish Prison Service. He also wrote to former First Minister Henry McLeish, who heads a commission on sentencing, to extend his current review to include open prisons.

But Mr MacAskill faced further opposition criticism over the announcement yesterday that he is extending a programme to provide alternatives to remand for women, single parents and people with mental health problems, describing them as "the flotsam and jetsam of society" rather than a public danger.

The First Minister promised the McLeish commission will provide a response in "a totally coherent manner" to the issues of early release from prison and of absconding.

The rape of the 16-year-old took place in Cumbernauld, a week after Foye, 28, had gone missing during a visit out of prison, to attend an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.

Cumbernauld's Labour MSP Cathie Craigie said: "My constituents want to know why this monster was allowed out of jail, and why he was in an open prison in the first place when he had committed attempted murder on a police officer".

Ms Goldie said the case caused "horror, disgust and revulsion", arguing a review of Castle Huntly was now "overdue and must be implemented immediately".