On 20 April 2023 the Scottish Government published a report entitled, Journey Times in Scotland’s Criminal Justice System’. It found that the time from offence to sentencing had increased during the Covid pandemic: in the first 9 months of 2022-23, 'median journey times' were about 2 years and 10 months in the High Court (a rise of 71% pre Covid), 1 year and 5 months in Sheriff Solemn Court (55% rise), 11 months in Sheriff Summary Court (141% rise) and 10 months in the Justice of the Peace Court (82% rise). The starkest difference was the rise in waiting times for victims of sexual assault whose case goes to the High Court, with the median time in these cases being around 4 years.

On 30 November 2022 a follow up report (‘Still Nothing To See Here’) from the University of Glasgow on Deaths in Custody and Fatal Accident Inquiries (FAIs) was published. It found that there were more deaths in Scottish prisons over the past 3 years than in any other 3 year period on record; that the chance of dying in prison in 2022 was twice that of someone who was in prison in 2008; and that there had been a 42% rise in suicides since SPS’ suicide prevention policy (TTM) was introduced.

It was followed on 14 December 2022 by a follow up report to the Independent Review of the Response to Deaths in Prison Custody: Progress Report, published by the Scottish     Government.