Scotland's prison population: Ministerial statement

Presiding Officer, I updated Parliament in October that the prison population had risen in 2023 by around 9%. At that time, the population was 7,937. As of yesterday it was 7,959.

Although the rate of increase has slowed, the population remains too high and we monitor this on a weekly basis.

As I have previously said, doing nothing is not an option. This is not just about the number of people in prison – it is about the impact and the complexities, as those can create new pressures which detract from the ability to focus on prisoner progression and care, all of which demands action.

The prison population projections published on 13 February highlight the need for a focus on early and effective intervention, diversion and rehabilitative support.

To accommodate the increase, our prison service is keeping its population management strategy under review. This includes taking a range of actions to optimise the current prison estate which has already seen the transfer of male prisoners into accommodation previously housing women at HMP Edinburgh and the transfer of robustly risk assessed adult male prisoners to HMP Polmont. 

To be clear, the Scottish Government is not changing its position on the use of prison. It will always be necessary for those who pose a risk of harm or threaten the delivery of justice.

Protecting victims and the public from harm is my absolute priority. We all want the same thing – less crime, fewer victims, and safer communities.

However, we must recognise that prison, whilst absolutely necessary in many cases, is often not the best way to reduce recidivism.

We know that those released from short sentences are reconvicted nearly twice as often as those sentenced to a community payback order.

As stated by Sheriff Mackie in the recent BBC Disclosures programme, and I quote Sheriff Mackie, “the idea of somebody serving a life sentence three months at a time is a real thing… we know that short prison sentences do no good.”

Presiding Officer, with the increased investment of £14 million through the draft budget, we will ensure the courts can access a wide range of effective, high quality, community interventions.

The majority of that additional funding will be used to increase the capacity of justice social work, whose expertise, advice, and support is so critical to almost every aspect of the criminal justice system.

That includes alternatives to remand and work is ongoing to increase availability of those, with input and collaboration from key partners.

Significant progress has been made. A total of 1,100 bail supervision cases were commenced in 22-23,  the highest in the last 10 years. The number of people currently being electronically monitored is 1,860 – 416 of those are bail orders. I am keen that justice partners make all available use of this measure, where appropriate.

Alongside partners we are also making good progress to introduce new electronic monitoring technology and to pilot GPS functionality, initially for people being released on Home Detention Curfew Scheme – or HDC.  This additional option will further support people being managed as they reintegrate into communities.

That is why we are also working with the prison service, Risk Management Authority and justice social work to optimise the use of HDC across the prison estate where appropriate to support reintegration and a structured return to the community. HDC is used in other jurisdictions of course, including England and Wales.

As members know, we are also working with justice agencies to develop commencement plans within the next year for the reform of the Bail and Release from Custody (Scotland) Act, passed last year.

The provisions in this Act are intended to refocus the use of remand so it is reserved for those who pose a risk to victim and public safety and, in certain circumstances, the delivery of justice. The provisions will also improve planning and support for people leaving prison.

Presiding Officer, let me now turn to our prison service. It is of course prison staff that are on the frontline and they deserve our praise and deserve our support for the work they do.

A high prison population impacts on those working and living in our prisons.

Increasing investment in the resource budget, by 10% to £436.6 million in 2024/25, will enable our prison service to safely manage the increasingly complex population, as well as pay progression for staff.

We must also acknowledge the complexities of need in the prison population due to an increasingly ageing population.

The Scottish Prison Service are actively considering estate optimisation options including the possibility of new or adapted accommodation to better meet increasing social care needs.

We will work with the Scottish Prison Service to undertake a review of social care in prisons, which will include a full data assessment of the need across the prison estate and assessment process; and importantly developing strategies to support the changing social care needs of the prison estate.

This work will include an options analysis on creating bespoke facilities for prisoners with social care. I will be discussing this with the Cross Portfolio Ministerial Group on Prison Health and Social Care tomorrow.

Presiding Officer, while work is underway to respond to the high prison population, we need to understand and address its root causes if we are to take a long term, sustainable, and evidence-based approach to those who offend.

Like England and Wales, Scotland has one of the highest uses of custody in Western Europe. In 2023, we imprisoned around 132 people per 100,000, compared to 137 in England and Wales, 106 in France, 98 in Spain and 51 in the Netherlands. But there is nothing intrinsic about our country that means it should not and could not have a penal policy which leads to it no longer being an outlier.

It’s now been over 15 years since the Scottish Prisons Commission, chaired by Henry McLeish, examined how imprisonment is used in Scotland. And while we’ve made good progress on many of the Commission’s recommendations, a lot has changed since then. We’ve seen an increase in the reporting of sexual offences; fewer individuals going to prison each year but, on average, serving longer sentences; increased pressure on the High Court; and an ageing prison population with complex care needs which our prisons were not  designed to deal with.

There is now a pressing need to consider models of care within prison, and the right range of robust community justice alternatives to short term sentences.

I think the time is ripe to look again at the sort of justice system we want to have and, to that end, I plan to commence an externally led review of sentencing and penal policy.

This will allow us both to re-visit the fundamental question of how imprisonment is used, and to go beyond that to consider how to meet what is surely a shared aim across this chamber: to deal with offending behaviour in an effective and proportionate way; to reduce re-offending through meaningful rehabilitation; and to keep our communities safe. 

This is not about reducing the prison population as an end in itself, but about ensuring that custody is used for the right people and at the right time – and not as a replacement for taking effective community based action to tackle public health problems such as addiction or poor mental health.

This will not be a simple task, given the complexities within our justice system. The scope and approach of the review will need to be developed with partners and any prospective chair. But an in-depth review will offer the chance to answer key questions about our approach to offending behaviour, and to make recommendations both for the short and long term reform.

I want this review to offer its initial findings for consideration by Government and Parliament during this parliamentary session.

I would welcome views from members and will be asking justice representatives from all parties to meet and discuss this in due course.   

Presiding Officer, the needs of the prison population are increasingly more complex. Again, I would like to pay tribute to Scottish Prison Service and to our justice partners. We are working together to take action and will continue to do so.

A serious and significant challenge remains. While the prison population has not deteriorated further, we need to continue at pace to prevent this issue from persisting or reoccurring.

I will continue to keep Parliament updated. Thank you.