Prisons

Older prisoners in England and Wales could be held in secure social care in the community to account for their specific health needs, a landmark new report has suggested. The report by Dr Jayne Price, published today by the Prison Reform Trust, calls on the Ministry of Justice to publish a national

Under-18s are no longer being detained in young offenders' institutions anywhere in Scotland. The remaining children previously detained in YOI Polmont have been moved into secure care settings, and no regulations which came into force last week provide for no new admissions of children under 18 to

English prisons are virtually full, according to new figures showing fewer than 100 places now left across the male prison estate. According to the BBC, there were a record 84,596 inmates in the male prison estate as of Friday 23 August.

Overcrowding in prisons is preventing the rehabilitation of offenders in Scotland, the head of inspections has warned. HM Chief Inspector of Prisons for Scotland, Wendy Sinclair-Gieben, called on the Scottish government to consider “radical justice options” to ease the pressure on prison

Individuals could spend more time under community supervision as part of their prison sentence, a consultation has proposed. Views are being sought on changing the point of release under licence conditions for people serving a custodial sentence of four years or more, which would "provide a more man

Scotland had a prisoner suicide far above the European average in 2022, the Council of Europe annual penal statistics show. In 2022 Scotland reported a suicide rate of 18.9 per 10,000 inmates; this compares to 9.3 suicides per 10,000 inmates in England & Wales and a European median rate of 5.3 &

The Scottish Parliament will be asked to approve the emergency release of some short-term prisoners to address the impacts of a rapid rise in the prison population. The legislation was announced to Parliament earlier this month by the Justice Secretary as an emergency response. If the regulations ar

A disproportionate number of care-experienced children and young people have siblings in prison or secure care, according to a new report which urges action to ensure their right to a sibling relationship is protected. The Staying Connected: Care-experienced children and young people with a sibling

Jails are under severe pressure, with the prison population increasing by almost 10 per cent this year. Justice Secretary Angela Constance said the rise was a “significant challenge” and that a further increase would “seriously impact” on staff and prisoners.

Scotland has a "very high" incarceration rate, new figures from the Council of Europe show. The end of lockdown measures to tackle the pandemic produced a rebound effect in the incarceration rates in many European countries between January 2021 and January 2022: the median incarceration rate rose by

Plans to hold young offenders under the age of 18 in secure care rather than young offender institutes (YOIs) will require additional resources, a Holyrood committee has warned. There are significantly higher costs associated with holding young people in secure care rather than YOIs, the criminal ju

Around a quarter of Scotland's prison population last year was held on remand, the largest proportion on remand on record, new figures show. The Scottish government yesterday published its prison population statistics for 2021–22, showing that the average daily remand population increased by a

In its new report published today on its visit to Bulgaria in October 2021, the Council of Europe’s committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) hails rare occurrences of ill-treatment by staff, reduction of prison population and certain improvements in living conditions. However, it regrets

There are just 16 transgender prisoners across the entire Scottish prison estate and most are not held in prisons corresponding to their identity, new figures show. According to a report published by the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) last week, there were 11 trans women and five trans men in Scottis

Two prisoners who had their petition for review of a prison authority decision to prohibit them from making inter-prison phone calls to each other refused have been denied permission to make a further appeal against the decision to the UK Supreme Court.  Charles O’Neill and William Lauchl