Prisons

Lawyers have complained of court delays this week after a new private company took over the contract for transferring prisoners to court, The Herald reports. The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) has said it expects the "operational issues" to be resolved over the course of the week.

The average length of custodial sentences in Scotland is at its highest in the last ten years, increasing by 21 per cent since 2008/09, new figures reveal. The Criminal Proceedings in Scotland, 2017-18 bulletin shows the use of custodial sentences under three months has fallen over the last decade,

Wales has the highest imprisonment rate in Western Europe, according to research by Cardiff University’s Wales Governance Centre. Sentencing and Immediate Custody in Wales: A Factfile provides a statistical comparison of sentencing and immediate custody figures in Wales and England.

Scottish Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson Liam McArthur MSP has warned that “people are being packed into prisons like sardines” after a parliamentary question revealed that the occupancy rate of nine prisons was 100 per cent or higher last month. Barlinnie was operating at 139 per