Move to cut prisoner numbers

Criminals should be ‘worked hard’

Published:

RECOMMENDATIONS: Henry McLeish says only the most serious offenders should be locked up.

CRIMINALS could escape jail terms under a proposal to cut the prison population in half.

Only the most serious offenders would be locked up, with many others told to work in the community instead.

The number of prisoners in Scotland could fall from around 8,000 to 5,000.

The recommendations, made by former Labour First Minister Henry McLeish, have been backed by SNP Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill.

Mr McLeish – who spent nine months leading the Scottish Prisons Commission – said the current system was “not working”.

Short prison sentences should be scaled back, he said, and low level offenders should be “worked hard” to pay back their debt to communities.

He said: “These are bold reforms. These are reforms that are rooted in both common sense and evidence.”

And he added: “We’re suggesting that three to four thousand people can be taken out of prison, hopefully reflecting a cut in crime.”

The commission findings were broadly welcomed by Mr MacAskill, who set up the commission last year.

But the Conservatives said the plans confirmed their “worst nightmares” for a “soft-touch Scotland”.

It was recommended that community punishment should be the “default position” instead of six-month sentences and offenders aged 16 and 17 should be kept away from adult prisons.

Sheriffs should be able to enforce “payback” orders on low level offenders – such as thieves – who would be sent straight to work from court.

Parole boards should be given tougher powers to conduct progress checks on community sentences.

Scottish Labour justice spokeswoman Pauline McNeill said emptying prisons “overnight” and being “soft on crime” was not the answer.