Ministers urged to rethink jail sentences of less than two years

The Scottish government has been urged to discourage judges from issuing prison sentences of less than two years in a bid to cut the prison population.

The number of people in prisons reached record highs last year, with ministers forced to bring in a third early-release system to ease pressure.

As a result of rising numbers, Justice Secretary Angela Constance formed the Scottish Sentencing and Penal Policy Commission to look at ways to stem the problem.

Its final report, published on Friday, pushes for the government to extend its presumption against short sentences to 24 months.

Under the current policy, Scotland's judges are discouraged from issuing custodial sentences of less than a year.

The report says: "When passing a sentence of fewer than 24 months, members of the judiciary should provide a written note of all the available alternatives considered and why, bearing in mind the particular facts and circumstances of the case, no other method of dealing with the person was appropriate.

"Data on the reasons provided should be gathered in a format that is amenable to systematic collation and analysis."

Scotland's prison population hit a record high of 8,420 last October. By the start of February that had been cut to 8,301.

A programme of emergency early release resulted in more than 400 prisoners being freed in recent months.

Despite that, and the increased use of alternatives to prison and increases to prison capacity, Constance has said eight jails were at "red-risk status", with 15 close to or over capacity.

The new proposals say judges should also be made to provide their reasons for why a prison spell is the only way to deal with a specific offence.

The report also makes proposals around remand prisoners.

Currently, approximately a quarter of Scotland's prison population is on remand, having not been convicted of a crime.

The commission recommends only those with a prospect of being sent to jail upon conviction for more than two years should be held on remand.

A national "decarceration" plan - which would aim to reduce the prison population - should also be published within the next year, the report says.

This would set out "clear milestones" to bring down the rate of incarceration in Scotland, and should consider the establishment of a new inspectorate to look at the "administrative performance of the criminal courts".

The Scottish government is also urged to develop a policy on "transitional accommodation" to help those leaving prison stay off the streets.

The report comes after the justice secretary announced that she would consult on bringing down the release point for some sentences from 40% to 30%.

Responding to the report, Constance thanked the commission for its work and said the recommendations required "detailed consideration and prioritisation".

"Taking this forward will be a matter for an incoming government," she said.

"Bold, collaborative action is needed to reduce reliance on custody and achieve a sustainable prison population. We are committed to taking action.

"There is no silver bullet but these considered recommendations can help us achieve a sustainable prison population."

Constance said Scotland remained an "outlier" in prison numbers, and while custody would always be necessary "we need to shift the balance to community justice, which is shown to reduce reoffending and be more cost-effective for the public purse."

She will officially respond to the report in the Scottish Parliament next week.

Debbie Adams, interim chief executive of the charity Victim Support Scotland, thanked the commission for its worked and welcomed its findings, though she warned there was "a long way to go".

"Public confidence in the criminal justice system is not high and changes of this magnitude need to be clearly communicated, including resulting evidence of reductions in re-offending," she said.

"As always, we strive for a criminal justice system in Scotland that has victims at its heart, and this report can potentially take us a step further towards this goal."

Phil Fairlie, assistant secretary of the Prison Officers' Association (POA), welcomed the review, describing the prison system as "under strain and pressure".

"It is a step in the right direction that offers up the potential for real tangible differences in society generally, but importantly for us, inside our prisons too," he said.

"Some of the steps described are not short term, nor do they deliver those outcomes early, so we need to see concerted action to address understaffing, substance misuse, violence and the cycle of reoffending endemic in Scotland's prisons."

He added that prisons would remain "dangerously overcrowded" until then, and his members would continue to suffer.

The Scottish Conservatives said they had written to Constance demanding that she dismiss the report's "crackpot" recommendations.

Justice spokesman Liam Kerr said adopting the sentencing proposal would be handing a "get out of jail free card" to dangerous criminals.

He said the paper amounted to a "charter for criminals, which clips the wings of judges and betrays victims".

"Angela Constance has already announced plans this week to release huge numbers of inmates when they have served just 30 per cent of their sentence. Now she's being asked to remove custody as an option altogether for others," he said.

"The SNP's soft-touch madness must end. Dangerous criminals are being allowed to roam the streets and reoffend because the nationalists have failed to build the new prisons they promised in Glasgow and the Highlands," he added.

Labour's justice spokeswoman Pauline McNeill said: "The SNP cannot keep letting criminals dodge jail in order to manage the chaos they have created in our prison system.

"Sentencing should be about how we keep communities safe - not how we clean up the SNP's mess. Angela Constance and the SNP have pushed our entire justice system to breaking point - from frontline policing to our courts to our prisons.

"The SNP's sticking plaster solutions and soft touch approach to justice is letting Scotland down," she said.