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1. PREAMBLE
1.1 This report concentrates almost entirely on matters connected with the preparation of prisoners for release. The date of this inspection was published almost a year before it took place; but the inspection took place at a particularly appropriate time. No Scottish prison has been the subject of more Press and public concern in the past year than the Open Estate. The focus of the concern was the rape of a young woman by a man who had absconded from Castle Huntly. This crime provoked outrage; and behind the outrage was the frequent suggestion that the criteria for admission to the Open Estate were too lax; and the frequent suggestion that the security at the Open Estate was too lax. The implication was that the Open Estate was too easy to get in to and too easy to get out of.
1.2 The Scottish Prisons Commission ("The McLeish Commission") was asked to investigate these concerns as part of their wider remit to take stock of how Scotland uses imprisonment. Their report was published in July 2008. Despite serious criticism of some of the processes which governed admission of prisoners to, and management of, prisoners within the Open Estate, the Commission declared that "Scotland also needs a well-run open estate because it is not in the public interest to release long-term prisoners from closed institutions without preparing them for release and training them for freedom."
1.3 This current inspection report demonstrates that significant change has taken place this year in the Open Estate. Much of the change can be attributed to reaction to that case of rape by an absconding prisoner. The criteria for admission to the Open Estate have been tightened considerably. So there are far fewer prisoners in the Open Estate than there used to be. In September 2007 the population was 496; by the time of this inspection it had dropped to 350. Among these the proportion of short-term prisoners has dropped.
1.4 Moreover, this report demonstrates that the use and availability of illegal drugs have also been reduced in the past year. This is not merely due to the lower numbers: even proportionately to the lower numbers there is significantly less drug use. Perhaps this may be partly because of the smaller number of short term prisoners. More certainly it is due to the more stringent requirements for admission to the Open Estate.
1.5 The same progress can be seen in the number of absconds. It is still a high number, but it is lower than it used to be. Most of these absconds are technically "non-returns": it is not that the majority have escaped, but that they have not returned to prison after a period of home leave or community placement.
1.6 Throughout this inspection staff insisted that the more rigorous admission standards for prisoners have resulted in a more positive atmosphere in which they were able to do "better work with better prisoners".
1.7 Nevertheless there are still two faults with the new admission procedure. There is almost no preparation in closed prisons before prisoners move to the Open Estate; and the procedural delays which cause prisoners to spend as much as the first three months after admission waiting for home leave (despite some having had extensive unsupervised community access at previous closed prisons) lead to real frustration.
1.8 Healthcare is very good at both Castle Huntly and Noranside, although the times at which prisoners can access these services is more restricted at Noranside. The administration of controlled medication at Noranside falls outside recommended standards.
1.9 The McLeish Commission re-emphasised the purpose of the Open Estate as rehabilitation and preparation for release. In the last year the processes connected with the management, and in particular the risk management, of prisoners before release have improved considerably. Integrated Case Management and the personal officer scheme are fully operational and effective.
1.10 The main components of preparation for release at Castle Huntly and Noranside are, as they were before, community placements and home leave. The Extended Home Leave scheme is managed very well; and many early hesitations about it have disappeared. Community placements are also managed very well. These schemes provide testing in the community, development of employable skills, connection with local agencies, and family contact for those prisoners approaching the end of their sentences; and these things are most valuable. So is the Independent Living Unit at Noranside.
1.11 But they are not enough. The Governor was right to say "we need to concentrate on the three weeks per month they are in prison, and not just on the one week when they go home". There is very little activity for prisoners to prepare them for release except home leaves and community placements. There are no accredited programmes to address offending behaviour, and no "top-up" programmes. Education provision is poor and not particularly directed toward preparation for release. Evenings and weekends are unused, wasted time. There is very little attempt to make use of the opportunities provided by extensive grounds and the absence of a fence. If home leave and community placements are all that can be offered to the preparation of prisoners for release, some might argue that these same things simply be offered in closed prisons in the central belt.
1.12 So many reports have stated that sex offenders get the worst preparation for release in Scotland's prisons despite their being the prisoners whom the public would expect to receive the most thorough preparation for release. The number of sex offenders in the Open Estate at the time of inspection was two. Of course it is difficult and dangerous and controversial to give any form of access to the community to imprisoned sex offenders. But it is more difficult and more dangerous, and it should be more controversial, to return them to the community at the end of their sentences without any previous testing in the community and without proper preparation for release.
1.13 If the Open Estate is the best preparation for release to be found in Scottish prisons then the most dangerous prisoners (not just sex offenders) are the ones who need it most. It is not easy to understand why some prisoners are given parole directly from closed prisons. Indeed in this year alone at least 38 prisoners have been released on parole from adult male closed establishments.
1.14 The conclusion of the McLeish Commission was "The Commission recommends that preparing for release and training for freedom be retained and reinforced as the proper purposes of the open estate - not easing overcrowding." Despite the criticisms expressed above, this report makes it clear that the SPS has learned lessons about the Open Estate in the past year and has made considerable improvements. This is a decisive moment for the future of the Open Estate. The conclusion of the McLeish Commission, reached after much study by an expert group, should not be lightly set aside. The evil of overcrowding across all Scottish prisons is very likely to reverse the progress and destroy the improvement demonstrated in this report. Since there is nowhere else to put prisoners it may be that a fence has to be put round the Open Estate and it is forced to become an ordinary prison to ease overcrowding. Who suffers most when prisoners are released from prison not prepared for safe, decent lives in the community? It will require courage to maintain open prisons which are not full in a time of unprecedented overcrowding: but it is courage which will serve the public good.
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