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Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION: SECURITY, OPEN PRISON, PAROLE & PUBLIC SAFETY
1.1 The Scottish Prison Service ( SPS) imprisons proportionately more people than nearly all other western European countries. At the beginning of June 2009 it held approximately 8,500: about 8,125 in prison and a further 375 on Home Detention Curfew ( HDC). SPS and its staff have a good record when it comes to security. It is worth examining what we mean by 'security'.
SECURITY
1.2 Security is the primary role of the prison service. When this fails public confidence is weakened. However, prisons are designed to be secure. With perimeter walls or fences, technology such as geophones and CCTV cameras, good prison design and use of appropriate materials, new key and locking technologies, intelligence and good staff/prisoner relationships and proper procedures - these days Scottish prisons have an enviable record of containment. Indeed, the last prison escape from within a closed prison occurred in 2005. Generally, security in closed prisons is good - but there are greater risks when prisoners are taken out or allowed outside. They can be outside the wall for a number of reasons: to appear at court, for hospital treatment, to visit a critically ill relative, making a home visit, attending a college course, undertaking work/testing in the community, maintaining and cleaning outside a prison, attending for interviews etc.
1.3 Escorts are provided by a private company for moving prisoners as instructed by the Scottish Court Service, Scottish Police Forces and the Scottish Prison Service. The contract is managed by SPS on behalf of the three agencies. When a prisoner is taken outside by secure escort, whether to a court, a hospital or, for example, a visit to his home or relative, it is considered an escape if he breaks free from that escort and is no longer under their control. Similarly, if a prisoner is being supervised by a member of staff (such as working on prison grounds outside a prison) and runs away it is considered an escape - though such prisoners should already have been in a low supervision category and vetted for the risk they might present to the public.
1.4 Absconds occur when a prisoner leaves the place where he should be or fails to return to prison at the designated time. Thus walking away from an open prison or failing to return back to prison after a work placement or home leave (whether a closed or open prison) constitutes an abscond. In these cases the prisoner has been unsupervised in the community and it is this factor which has the potential for posing the greatest risk to public safety. It therefore follows that the decisions which enable a prisoner to move from secure custody within a prison setting to either open prison or other access to the community is of particular significance.
SENTENCES
1.5 People can be held in prison for a variety of reasons: on remand to await their case being heard in court, awaiting deportation, in default for non-payment of a fine, having been recalled to custody by the Parole Board or Scottish Ministers for breach of licence conditions or being ordered by a Court to serve the remainder of an existing sentence having been convicted of a further offence, and civil prisoners. However, the majority of prisoners are serving a sentence. A 'sentence' is the length of time imposed by the court. In certain limited circumstances it can have the result that the prisoner spends the whole time in prison, or returns to serve the rest of the sentence in prison 1 but this is rare. More usually a sentence is considered to contain two elements: a part to be served in prison and a part (the remainder) to be served in the community.
1.6 Parole: In 1990 the Government accepted many of the Kincraig recommendations 2. It stated:
" The parole system in Scotland for prisoners serving determinate sentences has operated for over 20 years. Introduced in 1968 under the Criminal Justice Act 1967 … it reflected the view that lengthy imprisonment did not in itself fully prepare an offender for his re-integration into society but that release under supervision at a point when he had reached an identifiable peak in his training, and when risk to the public was minimised, could help him adapt again to life in the community."
The Government accepted the principle that:
"that a parole system has a useful role to play within the existing penal system, recognising as it does the possibility of change in an individual and enabling prisoners to be released selectively on that basis".
1.7 Current early release arrangements: The current parole and early release provisions are operated by the existing statutory regime contained in the Prisoners and Criminal Proceedings (Scotland) Act 1993 ('the 1993 Act'), as amended. Different sentence lengths have different outcomes but in principle there is a divide between what are considered Short Term Prisoners ( STPs) and Long Term Prisoners ( LTPs). The 1993 Act has been frequently amended since it came into force on 1st October 1993, most recently by the Management of Offenders etc. (Scotland) Act 2005 ('the 2005 Act') which makes it possible (under Section 15) for certain STPs to access release on licence with curfew conditions 'Home Detention Curfew' ( HDC). Prisoners must be serving a short term sentence, and have served one quarter or 4 weeks (whichever is greater) before being eligible for HDC. Currently, prisoners can benefit from between 14 days and 180 days on HDC. On 21 March 2008, HDC was extended to certain prisoners serving long term determinate sentences (4 years or more). The 2005 Act also ended 'unconditional' early release for sex offenders serving sentences of 6 months or more and less than 4 years. With the exception of these recent changes, early release from prison is governed by sentence length.
1.8 Short Term Prisoners ( STPs) are those prisoners who are sentenced to serve less than 4 years. As a consequence of the Kincraig Report of 1989 3 which looked at parole, it was agreed to adjust definitions so that STPs would be those serving sentences of under 4 years and, to bring them into line with prisoners serving longer sentences, they would be able to access release at the 50% stage of their sentence. With the adoption of European Convention on Human Rights ( ECHR) principles into our own legislation the practice of taking 'remission' or 'adding days' to sentences for misconduct was dropped, and STPs are entitled to release at 50% of their sentence being served. So for a prisoner sentenced to 6 months imprisonment he would serve 3 months in prison; for a sentence of 1 year, 6 months in prison; and for a 2 year's sentence serve 1 year in prison.
1.9 Long Term Prisoners ( LTPs) are those prisoners serving determinate sentences of 4 years and over and Life and Lifelong Restriction prisoners.
1.9.1 Determinate Sentence Prisoners serve 'fixed' sentences imposed by the court. They are eligible to be considered for parole at the 50% stage of their sentence (the Parole Qualification Date or PQD) and must be released at the two-thirds stage of their sentence. The 'parole window' is thus one-sixth of total sentence. So, for a 6 year sentence, a prisoner becomes eligible for parole at 3 years and must be released at 4 years. For someone serving 10 years they become eligible for parole at 5 years and must be released at 6 years 8 months. Prisoners released on parole are released early on licence. Those not released on parole are subject to the conditions of a non-parole licence. Both groups are serving part of their sentence in the community, are subject to post-release supervision in the community and a breach of any licence condition, further offending or concerns about risk could result in a recall to prison.
1.9.2 Life Sentence and Lifelong Restriction Prisoners serve 'indeterminate' sentences and the sentence remains in place for their life. A judge specifies the minimum period which is to be spent in custody for the purposes of punishment (the punishment part), and it is thereafter for the Parole Board to determine when the prisoner should be released. The presumption is that the prisoner should be released when the 'punishment part' has expired unless it can be shown that he or she still presents an unacceptable risk to the public. Where this is the case, periodic reviews take place until such time as it is found that it is appropriate to release the prisoner. Life sentence and lifelong restriction prisoners are released on licence and breaches of licence conditions, further offending or concerns about risk are likely to result in a recall to prison.
1.10 Extended Sentence Prisoners ( ESPs) are those prisoners in respect of whom a court decides to impose a period of supervision where otherwise there would be none or a longer period of supervision than otherwise would be applicable. An extended sentence can be imposed on a sex offender, convicted on indictment, sentenced to a custodial term of any length, and on a violent offender who would otherwise be sentenced to a custodial term of four years or more. All prisoners subject to an extended sentence are released on licence. Where the "custodial term" is less than four years the prisoner is released automatically at the half-way stage of the custodial term and is on licence until the end of the extended sentence. Where the "custodial term" is four years or more the prisoner may be released after serving half of this term, if the Parole Board recommends (in effect, directs) early release. If the Board does not recommend early release the prisoner will be released after serving two-thirds of the "custodial term". In either case the licence, unless previously revoked, does not expire until the end of the full extended sentence imposed by the court. Such prisoners are liable to recall for breach of licence conditions and on return to custody have their cases reviewed by a tribunal of the Parole Board.
1.11 Conclusion: Kincraig identified two fundamental concepts of the parole system: helping the prisoner to adapt and risk to the public. With the parole system in Scotland well established (now for four decades), the Parole Board sought ways to ensure that they made the best decisions possible. In order to grant parole they needed to be satisfied that the prisoner seeking early release would not present a significant risk to public safety and would use the time in a positive way. Staff have been able to report on the prisoner's response within prison. Some of the assurances needed could be provided by improved risk assessments, which could give information on the static (historic) risks and the dynamic ones which were amenable to change. While an offender could not change the nature of his previous convictions or employment record, he could show a willingness to change by undertaking programmes which might help him change his attitude and perspective, for example might reduce his propensity to violent reaction, and might help with addictions, literacy or employability. Prison officers and other staff became facilitators in the process. But, however good the work undertaken in prison, it was difficult to know whether the change was 'for real' and could be sustained.
1.12 The Parole Board believe that providing opportunities for prisoners to exercise personal choice while in the community is the best way to test whether they will be able to continue and sustain the change process. Open prisons therefore play an important function by providing support in a managed way to assist the prisoner to cope with a crime free life-style. They perform another significant role too. Long Term Prisoners can have been in prison for many years. They become institutionalised, dependent on prison authorities for their existence and decision making. If we think of the speed of change in society especially in technology, it is no surprise that someone who has been in prison for a number of years might feel quite lost in the outside world. Prices have changed, computers, mobile phones, i-pods and chip and pin - to name but a few. Open prison provides a supported progression back into the community - or at least it should.
1.13 Parole also provides hope and encouragement. Those that try to change may be released early. That release is on licence, with a range of conditions and under the supervision of a Criminal Justice Social Worker in the community, and sometimes with support of other agencies such as the police or addictions services. Should they breach those conditions they can be recalled back to prison. There are always risks and despite the best risk assessments and management plans things can go wrong. But it is far less risky for the public to have a prisoner well motivated to change, supported and managed for a transitional period in Open prison, and then released on parole to supervision, rather than have them 'thrown out' of prison when their sentence ends without the support arrangements and the planned approach to re-integration. Research tells us that merely locking someone up is likely to increase their likelihood of re-offending and therefore increases the risk to the public. There is a balance to be struck between minimising risk to the public and the need to support prisoners out of offending. This report reviews how the Scottish Prison Service ( SPS) has performed against that balance and what needs to be done.
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