| I am grateful to the former Chief
Inspector of Prisons, Mr Alan Bishop, for his thematic
study on "Custody and Training of Female Prisoners
and Young Offenders in Scotland". |
| I am sure that it would be helpful
if greater use could be made of the female remand units.
The Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service has
informed me that he is putting in hand arrangements to
improve and extend the existing accommodation available
for women at Inverness and Aberdeen and to upgrade the
accommodation at Dumfries in order that women admitted
locally to those prisons on conviction serving up to and
including 6 months will remain there. Women serving over
6 months and up to 2 years will be given the option of
staying at Inverness, Aberdeen and Dumfries or of moving
to Cornton Vale. The catchment area of Dumfries will be
extended to include Ayr and Kilmarnock courts. He hopes
that these changes, which will help to maintain closer
family links, will be achieved by the end of the calendar
year. Women sentenced to 2 years or more will continue to
go to Cornton Vale, in order to benefit from the wider
regime which can be offered there. |
| Mr Bishop also recommended that the
existing Temporary Female Auxiliaries should be given the
opportunity to become full-time staff. The Scottish
Prison Service is now offering these staff interviews
with a view to being considered for full-time employment
as prison officers. |
| As regards the provision of open
conditions for women prisoners, the Scottish Prison
Service is, as proposed, undertaking an appraisal of the
Training for Freedom hostel located at, but outside the
fence of, Polmont Young Offenders Institution with a view
to converting it into a self-contained pre-release
facility for category D women prisoners from Cornton
Vale. Such a facility would provide progression for
suitable women nearing the end of their sentence. The
unit would be able to house up to 16 women and the focus
would be on suitable outside work placements to enable
women to begin re-integration back into society. |
| Management at Cornton Vale has been
asked to review its existing regime facilities, not only
in the light of the Chief Inspector's proposals, but as
part of a wider consideration of prisoners' needs,
including employment, visits, education and other regime
opportunities. |
| HMCIP also proposed a widening of
the role of staff. Staff's role generally is evolving,
consistent with the demands of the sentencing planning
scheme and functions within the role of the personal
officer. Management of sentence planning will in the
future increase the emphasis on the identification of
training needs and the skills needed by officers to
operate according to agreed structures, models and
principles. The Scottish Prison Service has plans in
hand. |
| Ian Lang |
