News

HMIPS Annual Report 2021-2022

On 11 November 2022 HMIPS published its Annual Report 2021-2022 in which it described Scotland’s prisons during the pandemic as “places of containment, rather than          rehabilitation”, questioning the equivalence of healthcare in and outside prisons, and yet again, drawing attention to serious issues of remand; overcrowding; child imprisonment; barriers to progression; and the estate’s ageing infrastructure – going so far as to moot the possibility of some prisons being closed.

HMIPS Strategic Plan 2022-2025

During November His Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland (HMIPS) published its Strategic Plan for 2022-2025 which interestingly, included a strategic objective to develop a methodology for unannounced inspections of prisons.

HMP Shotts: Full Prison Inspection

On 2 November 2022 a full inspection report of HMP Shotts from May 2022 was published. Areas of concern included: delays in progression; insufficient pre-release preparation; lack of stability in senior management positions; poor rating of patient care; staff shortages; and a high incidence of substance related issues.

For the first time it included a pilot pre-inspection survey with prisoners, which included some concerning findings e.g. 46% of respondents reported having witnessed staff abusing, threatening, bullying or assaulting another prisoner in the prison; 77% of respondents reported that the complaints system worked ‘quite’ or ‘very’ badly; and 49% of respondents did not know how contact an Independent Prison Monitor (IPM).

Court Backlog Modelling

On 22 September 2022 the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) published updated modelling on the pandemic related court backlog. It suggested that the summary                      criminal court backlog will be cleared by March 2024; the High Court backlog by March 2025 and Sheriff Court solemn trials by March 2026.

Scottish Prison Population Health Needs Report

On 20 September 2022 the Scottish Government published a prison population health needs synthesis report. It highlighted common themes and recommendations from four health needs    assessments of Scotland's prison population (three new and one previously published). The assessments cover physical health, mental health, social care and substance use related needs.

Pages

Archive

2021

2020