Hansard

I am pleased to be able to take part in the debate. Like many other members, I have consistently pressed the cabinet secretary for action on the disgraceful conditions in Cornton Vale.

In 2009, Her Majesty’s chief inspector of prisons declared the prison to be in a state of crisis, citing overcrowding, two-hour waits for the toilet, cold meals, lack of activities and a deep problem of lack of prisoner purpose and activity, which was impeding rehabilitation.

A follow-up inspection report by the chief inspector in 2011 said that little progress had been made and that there was an immediate need to address overcrowding. It also highlighted several other areas of concern, such as limited access to activities or offending behaviour programmes and high levels of mental health problems, as we heard earlier. In addition, it highlighted something else that has become glaringly obvious to all of us who are concerned about the conditions at Cornton Vale: the lack of strategic prioritisation of the prison by the Scottish Prison Service.

Only yesterday, Brigadier Monro published a further follow-up report. Although it notes some progress, four of the original recommendations and 10 of the original action points have still not been satisfactorily implemented more than two and a half years after the first report. Many prisoners still lack access to clean bedding, access to clean laundry or even basic privacy. Whatever crimes they have committed, it is deplorable that they continue to be denied those basic human dignities.

The latest inspection report also highlighted the unacceptable use of silent cells. The fact that, despite previous warnings, extremely vulnerable prisoners continue to be placed in cells with a single mattress on a concrete plinth, no ventilation and no natural light, shows that the management culture in the Prison Service has still not changed. I have been concerned by the culture of complacency in the SPS and the lack of direction from the cabinet secretary, who has routinely maintained that those failings are operational matters for the SPS. Therefore, I hope that the Angiolini report will mark a change of attitude in the SPS.

I am delighted that the commission recommends that Cornton Vale be replaced with a new, smaller specialist prison for the most serious offenders, and that most of those who are on remand or serving short-term sentences should be held in local prisons. I agree whole-heartedly with that.

However, if we are to reduce reoffending, we must look beyond the management culture and fabric of Cornton Vale. That is why I welcome the comprehensive nature of Dame Elish’s report and commend all the members of the commission for their insight.

We have 37 recommendations, which are radical in their scope, and there is much with which everyone can agree. The report considers what happens to women at every stage through the criminal justice system, from when they are only at risk of offending and when they are at the point of arrest, through to sentencing options and resettlement on release from prison.

The report also urges us to address the factors that contribute to women’s offending behaviour, and stresses the value of offering women new life choices and valuable learning experiences so that we help them to develop confidence and self-esteem that will reduce the risk of their reoffending. In that respect, the report echoes what Baroness Corston called for some years ago, which was

“a seamless continuation of care”

inside and outside prison and a focus on women’s accommodation needs. She suggested that the problems that lead to women’s offending respond far more to casework, support and treatment in the community than to imprisonment.

It is clear that the criminal justice system utterly fails women who find themselves subject to it. The failures that the report exposes impact not only on women offenders, but on the communities in which they live and into which they resettle, the victims of their crimes and—this is perhaps the saddest thing—their children, who themselves become vulnerable. We know that approximately 30 per cent of children with imprisoned parents will develop physical and mental health problems and that there is a higher risk of those children also ending up in prison.

The report sets out clearly why we should take a gender-specific approach to dealing with reducing offending. It has been demonstrated that services for women need to resonate with their needs and experiences and that simply adapting programmes, interventions and services that have been developed for male offenders is unlikely to meet appropriately the complex needs of female offenders.

We have already heard that women offenders are themselves often victims of severe and repeated physical and sexual abuse. There are shocking levels of mental ill-health and self-harm in prison. We know that 80 per cent of those who are in Cornton Vale have mental health problems.

I support the approach that is outlined in the report’s parts 3, 4 and 5 on service redesign, alternatives to prosecution and alternatives to remand. Short-term prison sentences have little or no impact on reoffending, with 70 per cent of women offenders who receive a prison sentence of three months or less reconvicted for an offence within two years.

I have no doubt that, for minor offences, prison is rarely the right answer. It is far better that community-based schemes, whereby offenders contribute locally to making reparations, be the option of choice. Work in the community that challenges and changes people for the better is a positive and constructive way forward.

The commission rightly points to the vital role of throughcare. Roderick Campbell mentioned the work that we carried out on that on the Justice Committee.

The one recommendation that gives me pause for thought is the setting up of a national community justice service. Such centralisation seems contrary to the rest of the report, which emphasises a tailored community-based response. Criminal justice social work is rightly part of the local government family and the development of close links between criminal justice services, social work services, housing, education, and drugs and alcohol services has meant that progress has been made on tackling the root causes of crime. I am concerned that setting up a national service would be expensive, disruptive and would lead to the loss of such integration of local services. However, the fragmentation and confusion that are illustrated in the report mean that the issue must be addressed in some way, so we must further consider the matter.

The report has some frank words to say about the lack of leadership that has existed until now. It will certainly take strong and sustained leadership to make many of the recommendations work, but investment that reduces reoffending will benefit all of our communities and produce lasting results that will make Scotland a fairer and more compassionate country. The Liberal Democrats will work with the Government to realise that goal.

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