Policy of having just one women's prison is condemned

Published on Tuesday 5 May 2009 22:35

PRISON chiefs were yesterday criticised for operating just one female-only prison in Scotland.

Chief Inspector of Prisons for Scotland Dr Andrew McLellan said the policy of one women's prison – Cornton Vale in Stirling – was a "significant factor" in causing over-crowding.

He added that many of the inmates were a significant distance from their families, reducing the support available to them.

Dr McLellan spoke out when he was questioned by MSPs on Holyrood's equal opportunities committee, which is investigating the experience of female offenders in the criminal justice system.

Dr McLellan told the committee: "I do not agree with the policy of the Scottish Prison Service, which is to concentrate all women prisoners in one site.

"That by itself is a significant factor in overcrowding at Cornton Vale."

He said it did not seem to be "fair or honest" to argue that all women prisoners should be on one site so there would be a large enough number to allow them to take part in rehabilitation programmes.

Dr McLellan said waiting lists for such courses – and the short sentences many inmates had – meant it was not always possible for women to take advantage of them.

He said: "The argument against holding women in Aberdeen and Inverness and Dumfries, which happened until quite recently, was precisely that the women who were there did not have the advantage of these programmes.

"But clearly almost all of the women who were in these local units were there for a very short time and largely on remand, for seven days or at the most three weeks, so none of these people in Cornton Vale were ever going to take advantage of the critical mass."