• In response to concerns about women’s justice in Scotland, a Commission on Women Offenders was established in 2011, to look at ways of improving outcomes for women in the criminal justice system. The Commission’s report (known as the Angiolini report) made 37 recommendations for change which we continue to support*.
• The report declared the existing women’s prison, HMP Cornton Vale, as “not fit for purpose”. We campaigned against replacing it with a “super prison” to cope with an anticipated continued growth in the number of women in custody and instead supported the plan for a new smaller prison (HMP Stirling) alongside five community custody units, two of which have been completed so far (the Bella and Lilias Centres).
• We support the more therapeutic approach taken within the new women’s estate which reflects the gender-based needs associated with women in prison and the complex life circumstances which brought them there. This often includes complex trauma, mental illness, and backgrounds of victimisation.
• The number of women receiving a custodial sentence has decreased significantly in the past 10 years, which is to be commended. However, we remain very concerned by over-representation of women in the remand population and the fact that 70% of women held on remand do not go on to receive a custodial sentence.
• We are also mindful of the fact that 7 in 10 women in prison reported that they had been a victim of domestic violence, with 78% of them having been found to have a history of significant head injury.
• There is an increasing body of evidence supporting the use of community sentences for women and we believe that the majority of solutions for women’s offending lie outside prison and the criminal justice system. 
• We welcome the recent announcement that a new women’s unit is to be set up at the State Hospital. This will prevent the need for very seriously mentally ill women to be transferred to high security facilities in England.

* [ARCHIVED CONTENT] Commission on Women Offenders: Final Report 2012 (nrscotland.gov.uk)