Swinney ‘very concerned’ by record prison population

First Minister John Swinney has said he is “concerned” by Scotland’s record high prison population.

On Tuesday, 8,452 people were in Scotland’s jails – the highest on record – despite multiple early release schemes devised by the Scottish Government.

MSPs voted on Thursday to reduce the automatic release point for short-term prisoners from 40% to 30% of their sentence.

Speaking to the Press Association on Friday, Mr Swinney said: “I’m very concerned by the size of the prison population and we’ve obviously taken a number of steps to try to reduce that, and further steps have just been approved by Parliament in plenary session this week.

“We are, as a country, incarcerating more people per head of population than most other European countries – I think, in fact, it’s probably every European country.

“I think it’s important that we look for alternatives to custody, that we take different approaches to trying to avoid a rise in population, and that’s what the Government is considering in relation to the work of the Sentencing Commission that has recently reported to the Government.”

Among the recommendations of the commission was a presumption against sentences of two years or less.

Put to him that judges may be sending too many people to prison, including on remand for crimes they have yet to be convicted of, the First Minister said: “Judges act independently of Government and I think it’s a wrong step for politicians to question the decisions that are made by judges.

“Politicians have got to provide judges with a range of choices and options.

“Yes, of course there are choices about community sentencing and about community disposals.

“What we’ve got to work closely as a country to decide, and to debate as a country, is what’s the appropriate approach to custodial sentences, and that’s what the Scottish Government is seriously engaging in because the prison population is so high.

“We are at a critical point in the size of the prison population and it will require us to take some bold decisions as a country, and my Government is ready to do that.”