Imprisonment is the harshest sanction the state can impose upon one of its citizens. HLS, therefore, concurs with the findings of Henry McLeish's 2008 Prisons Commission report "Scotland's Choice" which advocated the use of custody only those for whom the moral seriousness of their offence warrants nothing less, coupled with public safety grounds. Currently Scotland’s prison population is one of the highest in Western Europe. We must therefore take immediate and radical steps to reduce the size of the prison population. Thereafter we can consider reducing the number of our prisons.