Those who end up in custody tend to hail from our most disadvantaged communities. Research carried out by former prison governor Professor Roger Houchin in 2005 revealed that a quarter of all inmates in Scottish prisons came from just 53 council wards, most of which were in poorer areas of Glasgow. Prisoners held in Scottish prisons are more likely to be illiterate, to have poor educational attainment, to have been excluded from school, to be unemployed, to have been homeless and to have suffered ill health.

There is also increasing evidence of a correlation between high levels of income inequality and high imprisonment rates.