Ministers accused of ‘panic-driven, knee-jerk’ response to prison overcrowding

The Scottish Government has been accused of “panic-stricken, knee-jerk reactions” to the overcrowding “crisis” in the country’s prisons.

Conservative justice spokesman Liam Kerr said the SNP has made it too difficult to send criminals to jail.

His comments came during a debate at Holyrood in which the Justice Secretary announced an independent review into sentencing and penal policy in Scotland.

Angela Constance said former Scottish Police Authority boss Martin Evans as the chairman of the review.

The commission will examine how imprisonment and community-based interventions are currently used in Scotland.

Mr Kerr welcomed the review but warned the minister that Scots need “more than warm words” amid what he said is a lack of immediate action.

He said: “Rather than get going with the urgency required, we’ve seen instead a series of panic-stricken, knee-jerk reactions to the crisis in the prison population in the meantime, responsibility for which lies entirely at the feet of 18 years of SNP Government which has been in charge of Scotland’s justice system.

“Eighteen years without developing a holistic, coherent strategy to understand why the prison population is so high and propose whole-systems approaches to address it.”

He said the Government has to “level with the people” of Scotland, adding: “It’s actually quite difficult to be sent to prison these days.

“In 2022/23 just 13% of convictions for a crime resulted in prison.

“That’s hardly surprising when you consider this Government introduced in 2022 instruction that criminals under 25 will not get prison unless no other sentence is appropriate, and any prison sentence for them will be shorter than where it’s an older person that committed it.

“The result was a 31% reduction in the number of under-25s being given custodial sentences, including a teenager who left a fire officer with life-changing injuries.”

The debate came as the first wave of up to 390 prisoners are freed under the Government’s early release scheme.

Emergency legislation passed by MSPs in November changed the release point for those serving prison sentences of less than four years from 50% of their sentence to 40%.

Ms Constance said it is vital prisons are able to operate safely and effectively.

“The harms caused by such a high prison population should not be underestimated,” she said.

The minister added that prison staff are less able to screen prisoners at risk of self-harm or suicide, and inmates have less access to rehabilitation programmes.

“We all want people leaving prison to successfully reintegrate into their communities, to contribute to society and be less likely to reoffend,” she said.

“The harms associated with having a high prison population reduce the impact prison can make to prevent reoffending.

“Let me be clear, the Scottish Government is not changing its positions on the use of prisons.

“Prisons will always be necessary for those who pose a risk of harm or threaten the delivery of justice and our independent courts must have the ability to remove an individual’s liberty where appropriate.”

But she said there has to be a “shift in the balance from custody to justice in the community”, adding: “We know prison, by its very nature, can disrupt the factors that can help prevent offending.”

Labour justice spokeswoman Pauline McNeill said it is important courts have “serious alternatives to imprisonment”.

But she claimed judges in Scotland “don’t seem to have the confidence” to issue community payback orders.

She urged the Scottish Government to provide more funding to help inmates once they leave prison, and warned Ms Constance not to kick the issue “into the long grass” with a review.