 The commission has been reviewing the early release of prisoners |
People who fail to pay small fines will no longer face a prison sentence under new legal reforms. The Scottish Executive said fine defaulters would instead be placed on supervised attendance orders.
These will mean that they are required to carry out "constructive" activities such as unpaid work.
Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson said the change would especially help women, who are jailed in their hundreds each year for non-payment of fines.
More than 3,000 people are jailed each year for failing to pay fines. On an average day, more than 50 fine defaulters are held in prison.
The new system could see that number fall as low as 20, officials said. The new set-up would apply to people defaulting on fines of less than �500.
The move follows pilot projects which ran for two years at Glasgow District Court and Ayr Sheriff Court.
Those projects saw the number of people taken into custody for fine defaulting fall from 1,221 to 700 in Glasgow, and from 91 to 38 in Ayr.
Ms Jamieson said: "Very short prison sentences of a few days achieve little. Smart options such as supervised attendance orders, which have been used by courts across Scotland since 1998, provide the opportunity for a more constructive approach.
"Spending up to 100 hours on constructive activity in the community can bring much greater results than a couple of nights in a prison cell.
"An order might, for example, require an offender to undertake financial management training to assist them in avoiding falling into financial debt - potentially tackling the root cause of their problem."
'Simple remedy'
However, the SNP accused the executive of stealing their ideas.
Justice spokesman Kenny MacAskill said: "We have said time and time again that filling up our prisons with fine defaulters and petty defaulters is a huge cost to the taxpayer and community-based penalties must be made available."
Scottish Conservative justice spokeswoman Margaret Mitchell said her party had long argued that fine defaulters should not go to prison.
"There has been a simple remedy which the executive has refused to do. If someone refuses to pay, then the original fine plus additional costs should be deducted from their wages or salaries," she said.
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Spending up to 100 hours on constructive activity in the community can bring much greater results than a couple of nights in a prison cell
