Transforming parole in Scotland: consultation

Annex A: Easy Read Summary Of Consultation

This paper sets out the Scottish Government's ideas to make the parole process in Scotland easier to understand.

This paper also has ideas to make it easier for victims and their families to have their say.

Some of the ideas in the paper are about doing some things better and others are about finding new ways of doing things and sharing information.

This paper is a consultation. That means that the Scottish Government wants to know what you think about its ideas. They also want to know if you have other ideas that will make things better.

When a person commits a crime, they are sometimes sent to prison.

A victim is a person who has had a crime committed against them. This can mean someone harmed them, attacked them or stole from them. This can also affect the victim's family.

The Parole Board for Scotland is a tribunal.

As a tribunal, the Parole Board makes decisions about people who are sent to prison.

In the case of the Parole Board, they decide if a person who is in prison is ready to leave prison and go home.

The Parole Board will not let anyone go home until it is safe for them to do so. This means that the Parole Board has to be sure that the person will not harm anyone else or do anything that would make them go back to prison.

The Scottish Government has some ideas to improve the parole process for victims, their families and prisoners.

This paper gives you information about the Parole Board and asks some questions.

There are four areas the Scottish Government are thinking of changing. These are:

1. How to make it easier for victims and their families to be part of the parole process.

We want to make sure that victims and their families are listened to and they are able to give their views to the Parole Board in new ways. We are asking how they can do that.

This is what we want to know:

• Do you think victims and their families should always be able to tell the Parole Board how they feel?
• Should victims and their families be able to go to a parole hearing?
• How can we do things better to protect victims and their families?
• What more could be done to keep people who are released from prison out of certain areas or away from certain people?
• Should victims and their families be told why a person has been released from prison?

2. Making it easier for people to understand the decisions the Parole Board make.

We want to make sure everyone understands about parole and that people have the information they need.

This is what we want to know:

• Other than victims and their families, who else should be able to go to a parole hearing?
• Should information be shared with other people?
• Should information be made public for anyone to see?
• Do you feel you know enough about the Parole Board?

3. Changing the way the Parole Board does things to make them better.

We are looking for better ways of doing things to help people.

This is what we want to know:

• How can we help prisoners understand parole?
• How can we help people understand what will happen if they do something wrong once they are home?
• Would a meeting with someone who knows how parole works help people understand?
• Is there another way to stop people returning to prison?

4. Moving the Parole Board to sit with other tribunals who also make decisions about people's lives.

We want to make sure the Parole Board can decide what to do freely.

One way is to move them to sit with other tribunals who also make decisions.

When a person thinks something is wrong with a decision we want to make sure people can do something to fix it. This is called an appeal.

What we want to know?

• Do you think it is a good idea to move the Parole Board to sit with other tribunals?
• Do you think people should be able to fix things when they are wrong?

What can you do to help?

The Scottish Government would like to hear your views on these things.

You can tell us what you think by responding to the consultation through Citizen Space. Annex E, tells you how to do this.

If you cannot respond through Citizen Space, you can email your views with the form in Annex F to ParoleConsultation@gov.scot

If you have any questions, you can email ParoleConsultation@gov.scot or write to us at:

Reintegration and Rehabilitation Team
Community Justice Division
Scottish Government
GW.R
St Andrew's House
Edinburgh, EH1 3DG

Please send us your views before Wednesday, 27 March 2019