Number of female prisoners continues to rise
14 Jul 06
Ministers failing to stick to agreement to reduce numbers of women in prison
Figures published today show that Scottish ministers have failed to stick to a pledge to lower the number of women in prison.
The number of women in prison has risen by a third in the last few years - from 273 in May 2002 to 365 in 2006. Most of the female prison population is behind bars for non-violent offences, many for not paying fines. Many are abuse victims who have mental health problems and are addicted to drugs.
The new figures were published by the Scottish Consortium on Crime and Criminal Justice.
Baroness Vivien Stern, a leading expert on prisons, said the number of women in prison seemed to be rising, in spite of an agreement that policies should be put in place to reduce it. She called the use of prison for women "inappropriate" and something that didn't benefit the women themselves, their families or society.
The Ministerial Group on Women's Offending set up in 2000 to tackle the problem had a remit to implement a package of measures designed to significantly reduce the number of women held in custody. Action was promised following a number of suicides at Cornton Vale, Scotland's only dedicated women's prison, in the 1990s.
Dr Andrew McClellan, the chief inspector of prisons, found that 98% of inmates had drug problems, 80% were mentally ill and 75% had a history of abuse and poor health in his last report on Cornton Vale.
Currently, there are 24 women in prison for fine defaulting.
A spokesperson for the Scottish Prison Service said that many of the women in Cornton Vale came from troubled backgrounds, but that the prison service had to take whoever the court sent to prison.
A spokesperson for the Scottish Executive said a number of disposals had programmes focused on the needs of women and that pilot schemes for the use of supervision orders instead of jail for fine defaulters had been introduced.