Meeting of the Parliament 28 January 2015
I take on board that point. However, I am trying to make the point that the child and family impact assessment should be at the front and centre of decision making. I absolutely accept that those assessments are done but, in some cases, that is almost as an afterthought. More importance and pressure must be placed on courts to take into account the work that is done through the impact assessment. The relevant authorities should be informed about and liaise with one another on the assessment.
Children of prisoners should be considered an at-risk group because, as looked-after children, additional learning support would be available to them. During the passage of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Bill, I lodged amendments that would have had that effect but unfortunately they did not gain the Government’s support. The amendments would have made a substantial difference to the lives of many children.
Changing how we think about imprisonment will not only save the public purse now and in the future, but protect the next generation and those that come after from the reoffending rates that we have. Figures from criminal justice authorities show that 43 per cent of women leaving prison are reconvicted within one year, compared with 30 per cent of all prisoners.
Much has been said about the 218 project in Glasgow and other community-based initiatives across Scotland that care for women. Those excellent projects help troubled and fractured women find the right way forward. Far too often I hear of women and men who are in prison but who do not receive the correct medical, mental and supportive assistance that they need. When their sentence is up, they find themselves back in the same community and environment that landed them in prison in the first place.
I and many other members have visited the 218 project. It is the right way forward for many women in the criminal justice system, because women are at greater risk if we do not help them. Many dependent children rely on the state, as the guardian of the imprisoned, to help their mothers and fathers get the treatment that they require in order to have the normal family life that all in society want for their children. When a father is sent to prison, children often have their mother and can live in the family home, albeit in difficult circumstances. However, when a mother finds herself in prison we know that the children are more likely to end up with another relative or in care instead of with the father.
I repeat my support for the Scottish Government’s decision to look to smaller community-based solutions to imprisonment. I am happy to work with MSPs across the chamber to get the best solutions for Scotland and her justice system.
16:12