Short custodial disposals from court and the prison population

Moving from the remand population to the sentenced population

The largest group of people receiving short custodial sentences moved from remand to the sentenced population (2,038, 40.8%). Almost a third of the group moving from the remand population to the sentenced population received multiple short sentences from court in the same day. This group were serving an average total sentence of around 7.5 months (taking into account multiple sentences happening on the same day). Around two thirds (1,317, 65%) of those moving to the sentenced population from remand following a new short sentence also had outstanding remand warrants for other offences. The most common offences on these outstanding remand warrants were common assault (24%), serious assault and attempted murder (17%) and crimes against public justice (9%). When these remand warrant offences are compared with sentenced offences, we find that in over half of cases (761), the offence on the outstanding remand warrants was more serious (based on the Scottish Government Recorded crime classification of offences[1]) than the offence for which they had already been sentenced, meaning there is potential for sentence lengths to be increased further. In 31% of cases the outstanding offence was similar to the sentenced offence, and in 10% of cases, the outstanding remand offence was less serious than the most recent sentenced offence.

Continuing in the sentenced population

The next largest group of people receiving short custodial sentences was the group that remained in the sentenced population following their new short sentence disposal (1,538, 30.8%). This group was serving an average sentence of around 2 years 5 months (taking into account previous sentences and the new short sentence). Around 10% of this group received multiple short sentences on the same day. In around half of cases (834, 54%) the new short sentence had no impact on the overall sentence length being served. This is most likely as a result of the new sentence being served concurrently with the existing sentence. In 521 cases, the new short sentence extended the length of the overall sentence by around 4 months. In the remainder of cases (183) the individual case was missing data on the length of overall sentence, was serving an indeterminate sentence or was on recall. In some cases, a new custodial disposal may also result in a prisoner moving from being a “Short Term” prisoner (<= 4 years) to a “Long Term” prisoner (>4 years).  Around a third (593) of the group remaining in the sentenced population following their new short sentence had outstanding remand warrants. The most common offences listed on these outstanding remand warrants were serious assault and common assault.  Just under half of the group with outstanding remand offences of serious assault were already serving overall sentences of between one and four years. It is possible that some of this group will move into the long term prisoner (>4 years) group if convicted.

Arriving in the sentenced population

A fifth of people (997, 20.0%) arrived directly to prison following their short sentence. This group have appeared in court from the community and have been given a custodial sentence. The mean overall sentence for those arriving directly to the sentenced population after a short disposal was 198 days (around 6.5 months). This group does not have any remand time or partly served sentences which could be relevant to the sentencing decision made by courts and how the custodial sentence may be enforced.

Departing remand

Three hundred and thirty people (6.6%) departed prison from remand following their short sentence disposal implying that the time spent on remand covered the length of the period of the short sentence that would be spent in custody. Those leaving prison from remand had spent longer on average on remand (93.6 days) than those moving to the sentenced population to serve the remainder of their sentence (57 days on remand).

Continuing in the remand population

In the few cases (63) where the person remained on remand after disposal, 86% retained their pre-disposal index offence – indicating that the most recent disposal was for a less serious offence than the outstanding warrant offence and that probably, the sentence for the most recent disposal had effectively been served while the accused was on remand.