The disrepair of Scotland’s prisons estate is failing prisoners, victims, and all of society. Phil Fairlie explains why it’s time for a genuine debate about the purpose of prison in our country.
Scotland’s Prison Officers are highly skilled workers doing remarkable work in very difficult circumstances. Prisons are at capacity across the estate, putting enormous pressure on those on the frontline of the justice system. The experience, knowledge and commitment they bring to their role is invaluable at the best of times and even more so during this unprecedented period when the prison system is under such intense pressure.
Despite the significant sums of money spent in the last two decades on the previously neglected prisons estate, some of Scotland’s prisons are in desperate need of investment to make them fit for purpose. The money spent on the new women’s estate, alongside Grampian, Low Moss, and several others, prove the possibility of vast improvements in some of the conditions in which staff work and prisoners are held. Other institutions, however, are in a state of disrepair. Our members who work in them can just about do the basics, but they cannot effectively work with and rehabilitate offenders who are being held in crumbling, overcrowded, antiquated infrastructure. It is simply impossible to undertake the vital one-to-one work which builds the confidence that can be the first step towards prisoner rehabilitation.
Overcrowding impacts on every aspect of prison life, but the effect on education, training and access to healthcare and other services is most profound. Overcrowding prevents officers from developing the constructive relationships that are so important to ending the cycle of reoffending and it causes major problems for prisoners’ accessing rehabilitative programmes. This is completely counterproductive. It will cost society more in the long run, because most prisoners will be released at some point, and communities will be less safe if we don’t start to tackle these fundamentals. If we continue as we are, we will repeatedly fail prisoners, victims and wider society.
The reality is that over 8300 prisoners are locked up in Scotland’s jails. We imprison more people than almost anywhere else in Europe. Glasgow’s Barlinnie alone is 35% above its design capacity. The greater the overcrowding, the more tense prisons become, which means the risk of prison violence and repeat offending rises. To keep someone in jail costs £45,000 per prisoner per year. Burning through scarce money in an effort to stand still is neither sustainable nor desirable.
In an attempt to address the crisis, the Scottish Government has introduced the early release programme. I welcome this, but it can only ever be a short-term response and a first step to a longer-term solution. Just as the Violence Reduction Unit initiated a different and successful approach to knife crime twenty years ago, we need to rethink our approach to offending by dealing with the fundamental reasons why many end up in prison: trauma, poverty, addiction, relationship breakdown and poor mental health.
Of course, we could put prisoners through every education and rehabilitation programme you can think of, but if on release they have no home to go to, no job, no mental health support, and unaddressed addiction problems, then there is a very good chance they will return to their previous ways. We need a long term, sustainable and fully funded plan that spans multiple services, and links them up to avert a repeat of this crisis. We need it quickly, because POA members are exhausted. The stresses of the job are making them ill, and with a ludicrous retirement age of 68 it seems inevitable that many will not make it until then.
The overcrowding crisis is not new. It comes back in cycles. This cycle has been many years in the making but it has now come to a head. We need a genuine debate about the purpose of prison in this country, and a radical rethink of the sentencing policy. The direction of travel from here matters to everyone, inside and outside our prisons. The Prison Officers Association will work constructively with the Scottish and UK Governments. We will support practical and realistic solutions to end the crisis but as we have warned both governments, more of the same will not cut it and our members will not accept it.
Phil Fairlie is the Assistant General Secretary of POA Scotland.
