Conclusions

8.1 There is no doubt that Cornton Vale is located in a pleasant and relaxed environment with good structural facilities, including very good living conditions for prisoners. The main problems, however, stem from its unique position as the only female penal establishment in Scotland. In our opinion, that situation has greatly contributed to the creation of rather an inward looking ethos. It has also perhaps been the victim of its own early success.

8.2 As can be seen from Chapter 3, there are a large number of excellent initiatives available in Cornton Vale, particularly when considered against the relatively low number of prisoners. From the results of our questionnaire, however, it was clear that female prisoners felt that they were 'missing out' when compared to their male counterparts. In particular they were very critical of the lack of appropriate opportunities over a wide spectrum, a point which was borne out - particularly as regards education at Cornton Vale - in the recently published Second Prison Survey an extract of which is shown at Annex 2. Laudable though the current educational opportunities are (paragraph 3.8) we have some concern that the subjects offered were too specialised for the majority of prisoners. This factor may have accounted for the low participation rates: on some courses only one prisoner was attending. We have therefore suggested - see paragraph 8.15 - that, taking cognizance of the survey and as part of a general review of the Cornton Vale regime, the education programme should be considered. It should be noted, however, that by far the greatest criticism was directed at the lack of both a proper TFF scheme and an open establishment for female offenders. With this criticism we agree.

8.3 Admittedly, one of the main problems is that the numbers of female prisoners are low. We noted, however, that that did not stop either the Danish or the Swedish Prison Service from tackling a similar situation, albeit partly along lines which, for the reasons discussed in paragraphs 7.16-17, we do not consider it appropriate to pursue in Scotland.

8.4 Furthermore we have concluded that in considering the whole question of the treatment of female prisoners the objective should be not simply to match the opportunities for females with those for males but rather to address the former's specific needs and aptitudes. Indeed, on considering the problems for the female prisoner as identified by Professor D Cooke in his recent SPS publication, we were impressed by the strong case made in favour of positive discrimination. As earlier noted, we are aware that the annual cost of maintaining a female prisoner is - at £35,000 - well above the SPS average of £26,000. This seems inevitable but our concern is that, at present, these additional costs are not necessarily a reflection of what secures the best interests of the female prisoner and the SPS.

8.5 Hence our consideration at some length in Chapter 7 of a range of options in the hope of finding an escape from the dilemma that continuing concentration of female prisoners offers the best hope of improving the regime whereas the development of a dispersal policy seems the only route to avoid continuing complaints about claustrophobia and distance from home. The possibility of developing the small remand units for female prisoners at Aberdeen, Dumfries and Inverness into what would in effect be small female prisons forming separate wings of the adjacent male establishment accordingly engaged our serious attention. The proposal we envisaged was that these units, in addition to continuing to hold remand prisoners, would be used for all convicted female prisoners whose homes were in those localities. In the end, however, we concluded that that would not be a viable option for a number of reasons. Firstly, the number of female convicted prisoners from those areas is very small and to house convicted prisoners for long periods would require the creation of regimes designed specifically to meet the particular needs of that group of prisoners. Given that there is no guarantee that the units would be used on a regular basis, we had to conclude that this would be a poor use of resources particularly when added to those costs would be the refurbishment work necessary to adapt the units to meet the needs of convicted prisoners. Also, we were of the opinion that, for LTPs, serving a lengthy sentence in such a unit might prove both a lonely and a claustrophobic experience. For those reasons we rejected this option.

8.6 That said, however, we did not rule out the possibility of some development of the three units in question. We believe that their current use could be extended by making them available as an option for convicted female prisoners from those localities who either have been given relatively short sentences - say up to a maximum of six months - or are nearing the end of a longer sentence. That would have the advantage of allowing short-termers to maintain family and other contacts without their visitors having to incur the costs of travelling to Cornton Vale or forgo visits, and it could also help LTPs to re-establish local contacts prior to release. We believe also that the units could be used to house Cornton Vale prisoners for short periods for accumulated visits - a privilege which is not currently available.

8.7 Such an option would, in our opinion, involve little resource cost, firstly because it would entail little, if any, structural alteration to the existing buildings. Secondly, given the short time which female prisoners would spend there, there would be no real requirement for any regime developments as it is envisaged that current resources such as education and PE could be utilised. It might also be possible to use such prisoners for 'passwoman' duties in, for example, the Administration block or in Community projects. There would be some cost implications particularly in relation to the need to introduce full-time staff. However, these units are presently staffed by TFAs who, in addition to being paid for the hours they work, receive a retainer. Under our proposal there would be no need for TFAs as currently structured which means that the cost of the replacement full-time staff would be partly offset by the savings thus incurred. We are of the opinion, however, that those presently employed as TFAs should be given the opportunity to become full-time staff - if they so wished - as part of the Staffing Structure Review programme, with the posts in the female units being assimilated within the staffing variables for the relevant establishments. We have estimated that the increased costs would be approximately double the present staffing budget for these units but overall, in our opinion, these would be more than compensated for by the accrued benefits.

8.8 The drawback to this proposed change in the system is that it would be possible for convicted and remand prisoners, adults and YOs to be mixed together which, technically, is against the rules. Short of creating separate sleeping and working facilities within each unit - which would be cost prohibitive - the change in regime practice and prison procedure would simply have to be accepted and authorised. It is also important to stress that we do not envisage that all prisoners in the categories described above should be forced to serve their sentences in such units. Rather we are suggesting that, given Cornton Vale's retention of its position as the core prison and in line with the concepts of sentence planning, a move to a unit should be offered as an option. We believe that such an option has many advantages both for the Service and for the individual female prisoners involved and, therefore, we recommend its implementation.

8.9 We next turned our attention to the greatest criticism we received concerning the treatment of female prisoners in Scotland - viz, the lack of opportunity to advance to open conditions or to enjoy a proper TFF facility. There are no open prison opportunities for females in Scotland. As for TFF, there is a unit - of sorts - at Cornton Vale. The hostel is located inside the perimeter fence, however, and is, in fact, a self-contained unit within one of the prisoner accommodation blocks. As a consequence prisoners entering or leaving the unit have to do so via the main Gate. The hostel itself has been very tastefully decorated and is maintained at a very high standard of cleanliness by those who are accommodated there. Prisoners in the hostel are employed in the local community or attend College. Over the years, however, the average occupancy rate has been very low - about two or three.

8.10 It is our opinion that the whole question of TFF and open conditions for female prisoners needs to be addressed urgently. Although the existing hostel could not be faulted in terms of comfort and decoration, it has the great disadvantage of being located in the heart of the prison which damages the TFF concept of near normality. In Chapter 7 we referred to the existing TFF hostel at Polmont and we believe that that offers some scope for satisfactory development for female prisoners.

8.11 That hostel - which has accommodation for 16 - is outside the perimeter fence and, generally speaking, is not at present being used to its full capacity. Currently it accommodates male YOs who work outwith the Institution on various community placements but in recent times the average occupancy has been in the region of six. We believe that that facility offers an excellent opportunity for the development of both a TFF hostel and an open prison for females and we have been assured that the YOs currently located in the hostel could be re-accommodated within the main Institution and still continue with their placements. Although the total number which the building could hold (16) may be regarded as small, it should be borne in mind that it would provide TFF and open condition opportunities for approximately 15% of the population of convicted female prisoners compared to 10% of the total convicted male prisoner population in Scotland who have access to similar TFF and open facilities at present. As the actual building at Polmont is outwith the Institution's perimeter fence, this would reduce the risk of the passing of illegal substances between females located there and the Polmont YOs because there would be minimal contact between the two groups. Indeed, it could be argued that there would be considerably less risk of such substances being introduced than there is under the existing arrangements at Cornton Vale where the TFF hostel is simply part of the main accommodation area. In location terms the Polmont hostel is ideally situated, being in central Scotland - where the majority of the prisoners live - and reasonably close to the 'mother prison' at Cornton Vale. We therefore recommend that the TFF hostel at HMYOI Polmont be developed as dual-purpose TFF hostel and open prison for females.

8.12 We then concentrated our attention on the question of the majority of female prisoners who, whether by the nature or stage of their sentence or for other reasons, would not meet the criteria either for location in a small, local unit or for TFF/open conditions - ie those who would remain at Cornton Vale - and we gave consideration to measures which might usefully be taken to enhance the existing regime.

8.13 While the training within the prison is satisfactory - as far as it goes - it needs to develop in line with outside employment opportunities and current thinking and practice. Also, although the total number of female prisoners is low, research indicates that a significant proportion of short-term prisoners are re-committed to Cornton Vale on a regular basis. Training should perhaps reflect those re-conviction rates. Certainly, training and education ought to be coordinated to enable prisoners to continue their course at a College of Education either while serving their sentence or when released. For example, we believe that modular courses in market gardening and administration could be introduced immediately and similarly that the existing catering and VT hairdressing courses could be expanded to allow those participating to continue their course outwith the establishment.

8.14 Another area which needs to be considered is the visits arrangements to reflect the fact that the family needs and responsibilities of female prisoners are often different from those of their male counterparts. Those special needs ought to be recognised by allowing longer and more regular visits particularly where children are involved as part of a family. We see benefit also in allowing such visits to take place in a natural surrounding with the prisoners being able to prepare a meal for their visitors. Similarly, home visits should be considered in the light of the needs of the prisoners and their families.

8.15 In general terms, it is our opinion that the regime at Cornton Vale - good though it is up to a point - has in recent times become somewhat stagnated. We recommend therefore that it should now be comprehensively reviewed taking into account the points highlighted above. As that review will have to take account of a number of factors, particularly costs, priorities and other major developments such as the current Service-wide re-launch of the Sentence Planning Scheme, we have not thought it practicable or expedient to set out in detail the elements of which this new regime should be composed. But along with a summary of our recommendations in Chapter 9 we have specified what in our opinion ought to be the main ingredients of that new programme. Not all the items on this shopping list may be available or affordable but the list should help to focus attention on the whole picture. Our objective in making the recommendation was to try to point the way to development of a regime for female prisoners which would not merely be fuller than that currently available but which would also be more purposeful, more closely geared to a progressive system and able to offer inducements for meaningful sentence planning. What Scottish female prisoners require is to be given a sense of purpose, a spring in their step, coupled with a determination never to re-offend. Some of this ethos is already present at Cornton Vale but, as was noted in our last inspection report, there has been some tendency for the establishment to rest on its laurels since it was set up on its present basis in 1975.

8.16 In formulating our thoughts and recommendations, we were aware that should they all be implemented the situation might arise whereby Cornton Vale could be operating uneconomically at a figure well below capacity. We were aware also that a number of male establishments presently suffer from overcrowding. Although we indicated in Chapter 7 that we were not in favour of mixed prisons, we do accept that a combination of the two factors noted above could result in a situation whereby the Service was left with no option but to locate male prisoners in vacant accommodation at Cornton Vale. Were such a situation to arise we strongly urge that any mixed arrangements be modelled very much along the lines that we found in Ystad, Sweden where contact between the two groups was both limited and supervised.

8.17 In completing this report we have attempted to make recommendations which will improve the overall regime opportunities for female prisoners in Scotland taking into account both the cost implications and the effects which our proposals would have on Cornton Vale. We believe that our proposals will in the long term benefit female prisoners and by recommending an extension of the use of the existing units at Aberdeen, Dumfries and Inverness we are suggesting that females be provided with an option which has hitherto not been available. For reasons outlined earlier we are not in favour of either mixed prisons or a widespread dispersal of female prisoners but increased usage of the existing units would allow the Service, to a certain extent, to have its cake and eat it. Our other recommendations - regarding TFF/open conditions and a review of the existing Cornton Vale regime - supplement our first recommendation and attempt to fill the gaps which currently exist in the treatment of female offenders in Scotland.