Deaths in Prison Custody in Scotland 2012-2022

2. Introduction

This report analyses and presents an overview of data published by the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) on deaths in prison custody in Scotland. The data includes details on the cause of death and location (prison establishment) of deaths as well as personal characteristics of the individuals deceased and their status in prison custody at the time of death. This report, therefore, only presents high level quantitative data that does not reflect the individual personal stories of the people involved.

It is recognised that each individual has their own custodial journey which can be complex, continue over many years and include multiple stays within the prison system which is not captured here.

It is also widely recognised that there is a high level of health and social care need amongst Scotland's prison population. Many individuals in prison experience poor mental and physical health and have a range of needs that are often multiple and complex. There is also a high level of comorbidity with many people in prison having more than one mental health, physical health, social care or substance use related need. There are also some subgroups in the prison population, for example, people held on remand and older age groups, who may have particular needs^[1]. These issues are also not discussed as part of this report.

This paper marks the first in a series of reports on the data and evidence that that will be produced over the coming year. Following on from this report, we will undertake further analysis led by the National Records of Scotland (NRS) which will examine causes of death in prison custody in greater detail including providing comparisons to observed trends in the general population. It is also anticipated that further analyses using the official national prison statistics will be undertaken in the coming months, which will consider the full custodial journey of individuals who have died in custody. This latter workstream, will also seek to investigate the overall time spent in prison custody, any changes in legal status and possible movement across the different establishments.