- HM Chief Inspector of Prisons for Scotland Wendy Sinclair-Gieben said prisoners serving life sentences for murder should be sent to lower security facilities to reduce overcrowding
- Critics warn that ‘public safety must not be compromised’ by attempts to ease the crisis in Scotland’s prisons
More criminals, including prisoners serving life sentences for murder, should be sent to soft prisons amid an overcrowding crisis, a watchdog has demanded.
HM Chief Inspector of Prisons for Scotland Wendy Sinclair-Gieben said there should be greater use of open prisons – and prisons where prisoners are given the keys to their own cells.
Prisoners are also given access to the community when they are in lower-security facilities, so placing them in softer conditions could prepare more of them for release, she said.
The findings of the chief inspector’s investigation were based in part on interviews with 600 prisoners, with many complaining about the time it takes to be transferred to an open prison.
HM Chief Inspector of Prisons for Scotland Wendy Sinclair-Gieben said greater use should be made of space in open prisons
Scotland’s open prison, Castle Huntly, near Dundee
The report comes ahead of the release of around 550 prisoners who are expected to be released early after controversial proposals from SNP ministers were approved by MSPs on Wednesday.
Scottish Tory justice spokesman Russell Findlay said: ‘Given previous cases of absconding, careful consideration must be given to increased use of open prisons – public safety cannot be compromised as a result of the SNP’s prison crisis .’
Scotland’s open prison is Castle Huntly, near Dundee, while so-called ‘top-end’ facilities allow a ‘phased approach to community access’ – these are housed at Greenock prison and Barlinnie in Glasgow – before prisoners’ move on’ to the open estate.
Ms Sinclair-Gieben’s investigation found that Castle Huntly was in an ‘unsustainable position of operating below design capacity’.
The open estate has 284 places, but has operated at approximately 60 percent of that capacity ‘in recent years’.
Ms Sinclair-Gieben said an open prison and ‘top-end’ facilities were crucial to prepare prisoners for their eventual release.
Her report states: ‘Failure or delay in facilitating access to opportunities for prisoners to get tested in preparation for successful reintegration into the community could impact the overall number of people in custody in the context of an increasingly overcrowded prison system in Scotland.’
The facilities at the top ‘differ in many ways from those in the closed prisons’ because there is ‘a lower staff-to-inmate ratio and individuals have a key to their own room’ – while there is a ‘less structured regime’ to ‘ensure encouraging the individual to be more independent’.
They also “offer individuals the opportunity to take their first steps back into the community.”
One prisoner told the watchdog: ‘It’s astonishing… the prison service says you can’t go to open conditions until you’ve done your programme; the Parole Board says you cannot be released early until you complete your program.
‘So it doesn’t matter how well you’ve done, you’re not making progress because the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) can’t fund the programs.’
Ms Sinclair-Gieben added: ‘By promoting a system that prioritizes rehabilitation, support and successful reintegration, we can work towards a society that reduces crime and ultimately creates safer communities for all.’
A spokesperson for the SPS said: ‘We welcome this report, which will contribute to our ongoing assessment of risk management and progress.’
