HMIP Annual Report 1997-98

Foreword by the Secretary of State

I am grateful to Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons for his Annual Report for 1997-98.

I am encouraged by the conclusion that the Scottish Prison Service has both fulfilled its primary purpose in keeping prisoners in secure custody while at the same time making progress on a wide variety of fronts. This conclusion is supported by the Service’s own Annual Report which shows quite exceptional performance in 1997-98 in the key areas of secure custody and preparation of prisoners for release.

The Chief Inspector notes that overcrowding continued, albeit at a lower level than previously. Since the end of the year to which the report refers there have been some encouraging indications that the growth in prisoner numbers has eased, though current projections continue to anticipate a further rise. These forecasts will be reviewed shortly. Meanwhile the excellent progress which is being made with the construction of the new prison at Kilmarnock and a new houseblock at HMP Edinburgh offers the prospect of some relief for hard pressed SPS staff and management in 1999.

The Chief Inspector makes specific reference to the continuing problem of drugs in prison, and to the high rate of suicides. I am most concerned at the increase in the number of suicides in prisons, and although there was a small reduction in 1997-98, the figures so far in 1998 have caused alarm. I am therefore glad that it has been possible to provide a significant injection of funds to the Scottish Prison Service to underpin and support its revised suicide prevention strategy.

The Government shares the Chief Inspector’s concern that there should be adequate community disposals available to the courts as alternatives to custody. There has been a substantial development in the use of alternatives to custody in Scotland in recent years and the Government is committed to ensuring that this continues. We are extending the range of disposals available to the courts with electronic tagging pilots and the new drug treatment and testing orders.

As regards drugs the Chief Inspector recognises mandatory drug testing (MDT) as a very useful tool in helping reduce substance misuse. As he suggests, the statistics produced by the Scottish Prison Service provide some early evidence that its introduction has led to a number of prisoners’ stopping or modifying their habits and this must be seen as a harm reduction success. The message which MDT sends to all prisoners, that if they misuse drugs they run a greater risk of being caught, is of course being reinforced by other means. The Chief Inspector acknowledges the considerable difficulties faced by the Scottish Prison Service in tackling drug abuse but expresses the belief that prison could, and should, become a much more positive opportunity to reduce illegal drug use in the community. I share that belief and welcome the fact that seventeen out of the twenty-two penal establishments in Scotland now offer drug-free areas to suitable prisoners, and that by next spring twenty - representing about a quarter of available capacity - will have drug-free areas. I also welcome the setting up by the Scottish Prison Service of a Drugs Strategy Co-ordination Group to take work forward.

The Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service will respond direct to Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons on the points of note.

July 1998