Scotland’s jail population passes 8,000 for the first time
Prisons originally designed to hold just 6,600
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THE number of prisoners in Scotland’s jails has passed the 8,000 mark for the first time, officials said yesterday.
The country’s prisons, which have a design capacity of around 6,600 inmates, held 8,013 on Monday night, said the Scottish Prison Service (SPS).
The number would have been even higher had it not been for several hundred prisoners away from jail on “home detention curfew”.
Some 374 prisoners were in this category, said the SPS.
Tories claimed the record figures were the result of a “soft-touch” Scotland created by successive Holyrood administrations.
Tory justice spokesman Bill Aitken said: “No doubt the Nationalists will abuse these figures to argue their dangerous case that fewer criminals should be sent to prison.
“That is wrong and against the public interest. Prison numbers will only be properly cut when crime is cut.”
He went on: “Of course we must do much more to rehabilitate prisoners and continue rehabilitation on release, but if the ends of justice demand more prisons are needed, then we should build them.
“Of course we should prosecute and sentence swiftly.”
A Scottish Prison Service spokesman said the total prison population had been increasing for some years.
In 2000 the daily population had been around 6,300.
“The fact that we are able to deal with these sorts of numbers pays tremendous tribute to staff,” he said.
“There is an impact, in terms of the quality of the regime and interventions we can make.”
Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said the Scottish Government inherited the “absurd” situation of locking up more offenders than ever before while crime had fallen.
“We need to punish offenders but also tackle the underlying causes of crime,” he said.
“We need prisons but inherited a prison estate that was not fit for purpose. This is why we are putting record investment to deliver three new prisons and an estate fit for the 21st century.”
He said those involved in serious crime had to be punished severely while less serious offences needed to be dealt with by tough community punishments.
