Howard League Scotland February 2023 Newsletter
Howard League Scotland continues to raise issues of penal policy concerns across all aspects of the media and to advocate for a more progressive criminal justice system.
The number of prisoners held on remand in Scottish prisons remains a top priority. As at 1 January 2023, 26% of prisoners in total were on remand, with 32% of women and 60% of 16-17 year olds held on remand. This was highlighted by our Policy and Public Affairs Adviser, Emma Jardine, in TV interviews with BBC Scotland 'The Nine' and in press coverage in the Daily Record. We don't believe that this is acceptable and we echo statements from HMIPS's Annual Report 2021-2022 which questioned whether the sustained increase in remand and backlogs in the court system could allow the SPS to manage a "decent, rehabilitative and humane regime".
Our Convenor, Sheriff David Mackie, recently gave evidence to the Scottish Parliament Criminal Justice Committee on Stage 1 of the Bail and Release from Custody (Scotland) Bill, which also covers judicial decision making
in terms of remand and bail.
We have also commented on, 'Still Nothing To See Here', a follow up report on Deaths in Custody and FAIs by the University of Glasgow, which found that there had been more deaths in prison over the past three years than in any other three year period on record, and that there had been a 42% rise in deaths by suicide since the SPS suicide prevention policy (TTM) had been introduced.
Meanwhile, almost half of our prisons are over capacity, with HMP Barlinnie at an occupancy rate of 121%. Interestingly, however, the new Community Custody Units (CCUs) for women are only at occupancy rates of 44% (Bella Centre) and 25% (Lilias Centre), which begs the question why are they not being fully utilised?
We hope to raise many of these concerns in a future meeting with Keith Brown, MSP (Cabinet Secretary for Justice). If there are other areas you would like us to cover, please email us at: emma@howardleague.scot.
As always, in order to maintain this level of scrutiny on penal policies in Scotland, HLS needs to secure further funding. We appreciate, more than ever, that times are very hard at the moment, but, if you can see your way to joining as a member, if you’re not already, or of making a donation to our cause, we would be most grateful. If you're aware of any other potential sources of grants or funding, please do let us know.
Thank you
Howard League Scotland |
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