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"Crime and Justice in Scotland 2009: A Fourth Review of Progress"

This report aims to provide an independent assessment of the data on crime in Scotland and the performance of the relevant criminal justice agencies in response.

This report was produced with funding from the Esm�e Fairbairn Foundation [grant number 09-2219] and also from Sacro.

On 24th April 2009 SCCCJ and the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research (SCCJR) held a seminar to discuss recent developments in the recall of prisoners to custody in Scotland.

Note from Seminar on Parole and Recall held on 24th April 2009 at the University of Glasgow

Seminar Note from Nicky Padfield, senior lecturer, law Faculty, the University of Cambridge 

Freedom Of Information Request Documents from the Scottish Prison Service

On 10th July 2008 SCCCJ wrote to the Scottish Prison Service [SPS] requesting information about the costs of cancelling the HMP Addiewell and HMP Kilmarnock private prison contracts. The documents below outline the various responses from the SPS and the office of the Scottish Freedom Information Commissioner over the following six months.

• 10th July 2008: Letter from SCCCJ to the Scottish Prison Service [SPS] asking for information about the cost of cancelling private prison contracts.

10/07/08 Letter from SCCCJ to SPS requesting information about cancelling private prison contracts 115 kb

• 7th August 2008: Letter from the SPS stating that they cannot give all of the information requested. The do list performance related deductions for the previous 9 years for HMP Kilmarnock.

07/08/08 SPS response page 1   1531 kb

07/08/08 SPS response page 2   812 kb

07/08/08 SPS response page 3 (includes performance related deductions) 700 kb

07/08/08 SPS response page 4 (includes PRDs plus staff numbers at HMP Glenochil, HMP Perth and HMP Kilmarnock) 648 kb

07/08/08 SPS response page 5   203 kb

07/08/08 SPS response page 6 (includes a letter from Keith Burberry, General Manager of HMP Kilmarnock confirming that Kilmarnock prison Services Ltd. does not make a profit from industrial workshops at the prison)  364 kb

• 28th August 2008: Letters to Kenny MacAskill, Minister for Justice, for the information he provided to the justice committee after the meeting on 4th December 2007, as well as the letter to Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the SPS asking for a review over the withholding of information about cancelling private prison contracts.

28/07/08 Letter to Kenny MacAskill 101 kb

28/07/08 Letter to Mike Ewart 1073 kb

• 30th September 2008: Response from the SPS to the request for a review of information not yet supplied.

30/09/08 Letter from SPS about the review page 1 496 kb

30/09/08 Letter from SPS about the review page 2 166 kb

• 1st October 2009: Response from Mike Ewart of the SPS on behalf of Kenny MacAskill to the request for a review of information not yet supplied.

01/10/08 covering letter from Mike Ewart 361 kb

01/10/08 page one of the copy of the letter and attachement sent by the cabinet secretary [Kenny MacAskill] to the convenor of the justice committee following the meeting on 4th December 2007 683 kb

01/10/08 page two of the above letter  1144 kb 

01/10/08 page three of the above letter 375 kb 

01/10/08 page four of the above letter  801 kb

01/10/08 page five of the above letter  356 kb

01/10/08 page six of the above letter  436 kb

01/10/08 page seven of the above letter  443 kb

• 28th November 2008: Letter from the SCCCJ to the Scottish Information Commissioner requesting an appeal for the lack of information provided by the SPS about the costs of cancelling private prison contracts in Scotland.

28/11/08 Letter to the Scottish Information Commissioner 427 kb

• 3rd December 2008: Letter from the Scottish Information Commissioner about the appeal process

03/12/08 Letter from the Scottish Information Commissioner page 1 637 kb

03/12/08 Letter from the Scottish Information Commissioner page 2 533 kb

• 25th February 2009: Letter from the SPS with further information relating to private prison contracts in Scotland

25/02/09 covering letter from SPS concerning costs of private prison contracts page 1 678 kb

 25/02/09 covering letter from SPS concerning costs of private prison contracts page 2 241 kb

25/02/09 details of HMP Kilmarnock contract cancellation costs page 1 756 kb

25/02/09 details of HMP Kilmarnock contract cancellation costs page 2 771 kb

25/02/09 details of HMP Addiewell contract cancellation costs page 1 856 kb

• Dossier on Prison Costs based on information from Scottish Parliamentary Questions  256 kb

In order to contribute to public understanding of the costs of private prisons the Scottish Consortium on Crime and Criminal Justice [the Consortium] has assembled answers to Scottish Parliamentary Questions asked between October 1999 and December 2008. The collation does not include all relevant questions as many repeat earlier ones, but it includes all the information given in parliamentary answers that our searches revealed.  The information is presented under subject headings and in date order starting with the earliest.

• Crime and Justice in Scotland 2006/07

A Third Review of Progress  896 kb

Scotland�s crime rates are stable- despite this our imprisonment rate is fourth highest in Western Europe and rising

The report shows that crime rates in Scotland over ten years have been relatively stable and for some types of crime the rates are falling. However, as the report also shows, Scotland still makes more use of imprisonment than all comparable countries in Western Europe. Scotland�s rate is the fourth highest in Western Europe, more than double the rates of Denmark and Finland and nearly twice the rates of Italy, Switzerland, Norway, and Ireland.  The review finds that in the past ten years:  

On 21 September 2007 the Scottish Consortium on Crime and Criminal Justice held a colloquium in Edinburgh on the implications for penal policy of the privatisation of prisons in Scotland.  The papers below were presented by speakers at the colloquium. They provide information on prison privatisation in Scotland and consider some of the implications of taking this route. The colloquium followed the Secretary for Justice�s major policy announcement on prison privatisation. He announced that from then on all new prisons would be run by the public sector but that the new private prison in Addiewell in West Lothian would continue because of, in the words of the Secretary�s statement,  �the prohibitive costs of reversing the outcomes of previous procurement policies�. With the opening of Addiewell prison, Scotland�s proportion of prisoners in private prisons will reach around 20%, the highest of anywhere in the world.  

The colloquium concentrated on questions of accountability, transparency (in particular the availability of accurate information on costs including hidden costs), the role of the Scottish Prison Service, how far values can be embedded in contracts, contract monitoring and the system of financial penalties for non-compliance, and the effect of privatisation on the development of public policy on criminal and social justice issues.  Parallels with the NHS were considered.

Baroness Vivien Stern, Convenor SCCCJ

�        Privatisation Still Not Proven:

A Snapshot of International Developments 48 kb

Presentation by Stephen Nathan,

Public Services International Research Unit

Business School, University of Greenwich

• Policy and operational implications of prison privatisation 69 kb

Presentation by Prof. Andrew Coyle

International Centre for Prison Studies, King�s College London

• The Public expenditure Implications of the Private Finance Initiative:  case study of the NHS in England and Scotland 181 kb

Presentation by Prof. Allyson Pollock

Centre for International Public Health, University of Edinburgh

�         Crime & Justice in Scotland 2005/06  

A Second Review of Progress  (519kb)  

     Cover PDF     (214kb)  

The Cost of Unnecessary Imprisonment

(761 kb)

Cover   (197 kb)

This briefing paper looks at a major problem facing Scotland in terms of the number of people being sent to prison.

�         Giving Up Crime    

Directions for Policy  (460 kb) 

  Cover PDF   (1.15MB)

This briefing paper explores the implications for criminal justice policy in Scotland of desistance research � that is, research about the endings of criminal careers.

�         Prison Privatisation in Scotland   

A Briefing Paper  (287 kb) 

• The End of Justice:

Reflections on Inequality, Violence, and Social Control in the 21st Century (88 kb)

Lecture by Elliott Currie, Professor of Criminology, Law, and Society at the University of California, Irvine.

28^th and 29^th March 2007, SCCCJ Lecture Series.

�         Women in Prison in Scotland: An Unmet Commitment  (457 kb)   

The first in a series of short briefing papers on criminal justice topics
of current interest.

�         Early Release from Prison (27 kb)       

Comments by SCCCJ on the Report of the Sentencing Commission for Scotland , 10 May 2006.

�         Crime and Justice in Scotland 2004/05  - A Review of Progress  (1.33 Mb)  

Cover (189 kb)     

This is the first in a series of annual reviews of the progress of crime and justice in Scotland . SCCCJ hopes it will promote discussion and debate and lead to more interest generally in defining, measuring and building on success.

�         Reducing the Prison Population: Penal Policy and Social Choices (207 kb)  

�         A Unique Punishment:  Sentencing and the Prison Population in Scotland (335 kb) 

A study of decision making by sentencers in Scotland by Prof Jacqueline Tombs.

�         Re:duce Re:habilitate Re:form  Consultation -  Consortium discussion paper   (53 kb)

This discussion paper has been produced to encourage debate on the consultation by the Scottish Executive.

�         Making Sense Of Drugs And Crime (182 kb)

This report goes beyond an analysis of the 'drug problem' to indicate how a harm reducing and more principled and effective penal policy on drugs, alcohol and crime could be developed.

�         Rethinking Criminal Justice in Scotland  Summary (70 kb)     

 Rethinking Criminal Justice in Scotland  Full Document (218kb) 

This report argues for a broad integrated social policy approach to crime reduction, with an emphasis on early prevention, given the evidence that this is the best way to protect victims and communities .

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Scottish Consortium on Crime and Criminal Justice
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