Meeting of the Parliament 20 February 2025
That is a fair challenge. What we would have done is build capacity such that the new HMP Barlinnie would not be 10 times over budget—it costs nearly £1 billion and is going to be delayed again. We would have ensured that that would not happen.
I agree with the cabinet secretary on many things. There has to be a holistic strategy and a holistic policy that look at the whole environment to ensure that the right people go to prison, that public safety is protected and that those who should not be in prison are not in prison. If the new group that the cabinet secretary has put together is looking at that, I am absolutely with her on that, and I look forward to contributing to it.
To finish my point, in summer, 477 prisoners were released early, but one in eight re-offended within weeks. That is why we need—and should have had previously—action, resources and evidence-based policy making, not warm words. The reason why I want to finish on this point is that, six years ago, I brought a motion to the Parliament. It was a simple one-sentence demand that urgent action, including the abolition of automatic early release, be taken to restore public trust in the justice system. The then justice secretary, the never knowingly effective and now rarely seen Humza Yousaf, amended it to have a go at the United Kingdom Government. However, in an unusual and unexpected dalliance with sound policy making, his amendment said that
“future reforms to sentencing policy should be informed by evidence of what works to reduce reoffending and take appropriate account of Scotland’s current internationally high rate of imprisonment.”
Lamentably, it seems to have taken six years for the Government to get to that point, while instead making panic-stricken, unevidenced, knee-jerk responses such as early release of criminals.
I suspect that the cabinet secretary will agree that the time for warm words is over. The time for proper, evidence-based policy making with proper resources and honesty in sentencing is now.
I move amendment S6M-16532.1, to leave out from “Scotland” to end and insert:
“as a result of, non-exhaustively, significant and long-standing pre-COVID-19 pandemic court backlogs, a high remand population and a failure to timeously build additional prison capacity, Scotland’s prison system is now struggling to house the number of prisoners incarcerated and sentenced as a result of independent decisions made by judges; further notes with disappointment that these capacity issues still persist, despite numerous Scottish Government policies, which were aimed at reducing the prison population, such as changes to automatic early release, which allows many offenders to leave prison after serving 40% of their sentence, a general presumption against short sentences, sentencing guidelines that treat under 25-year-olds differently and an increase in diversion from prosecution; raises concerns that, despite repeated warnings about the need for new prisons, HMP Highland and HMP Glasgow are both delayed and over budget, with the former rising from £52 million to £209 million, and the latter increasing from £100 million to £998 million; understands that reoffending rates were up 2.6% for the 2020-21 cohort; recognises that one-in-eight of those released as a result of emergency early release reoffended, and believes that the role of the independence of the judiciary should not be undermined by government, and that any review of penal and sentencing policy should always prioritise victims over offenders.”
Motions, questions or amendments mentioned by their reference code.