Hardened criminals facing longer Scots prison spells

Serious criminals who "pose a risk of harm to the public" are spending longer in jail in Scotland with the prison population having grown over the past two years.

The number of "full-year" prisoners - those serving longer sentences - has seen a "rapid increase"

The rise of about 700 to an average of 8200 inmates in prisons across the country in 2019/20 comes despite despite a drive to phase out short sentences of less than 12 months, with a presumption against this introduced over a year ago.

Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf says there are still too many prisoners getting shorter sentences, but the end of automatic early release and reduced use of home detention curfews has contributed to the rise in numbers.

"These figures indicate that those who commit serious crimes and pose a risk of harm to the public are spending longer in prison than previously," Mr Yousaf said.

Humza Yousaf says serious criminals are spending longer in jail

"However, there is still a large proportion of men and women in custody given very short prison terms for less serious offences.

"While such decisions are made based on the facts and circumstances before the Sheriff or Judge, we know that people released from a short prison sentence of 12 months or less are reconvicted nearly twice as often than those sentenced to serve community payback orders (CPOs), the most commonly used community sentence."

The number of "full-year" prisoners - those serving longer sentences - has seen a "rapid increase" over the past two years, by 8% and 9% respectively.

Over the past ten years, since the presumption against short sentences was first introduced - initially for six months in 2011 - the "part-year" population has fallen continuously by around 22% overall.

"It appears it is the increase in the full-year population that has driven the recent sharp increase in the prison population overall," today's report states.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

The dramatic events of 2020 are having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive. We are now more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription to support our journalism.

Subscribe to scotsman.com and enjoy unlimited access to Scottish news and information online and on our app. Visit https://www.scotsman.com/subscriptions now to sign up.

By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.

Joy Yates

Editorial Director