Prisons

Question 1

Effectiveness of Prisons

Answer 1

• Protect the public from
  dangerous criminals and deter
  others.
• Try to rehabilitate offenders
  whilst they are in prison – to
  break the cycle of crime.
• Ensure criminals face a fair
  consequence for their
  offences.

Question 2

Protect the public

Answer 2

• Remove dangerous people from society.
• Deter potential offenders.
• ‘Punishment’ part of a custodial sentence =
  length of time that must be spent in prison.
• Rest of sentence is served in the community –
  sometimes supervised. If they commit another
  offence during this time, they may be recalled
  to prison.
  Life sentence:
• Longest ever punishment part was 37 years
• If released, convicts remain ‘on licence’ for the rest of their lives.
  People who commit
  murders are usually sent
  to high security prison,
  HMP Shotts (Lanarkshire).

Question 3

Rehabilitation

Answer 3

Prison is an opportunity to
* access support to deal with the root
causes of offending behaviour
* gain education and skills training and
qualifications
This helps the offender learn to live
without committing crime in future.
Example: The Recovery Café
at HMP Barlinnie and HMP
Shotts supports inmates to
overcome addictions that fuel
their offending behaviour.

Question 4

Fair consequence

Answer 4

A prison sentence is severe enough to
✓fulfil the victims’ and society’s
sense of justice
✓show that the offence is wrong and
the law must be respected.
Prison imposes:
* Loss of freedom
* Strict routine
* Limited privileges and luxuries
* Limited contact with family/friends

Question 5

Ineffectiveness of Prisons

Answer 5

• Overcrowding in prisons is
  reducing their capacity to
  rehabilitate prisoners.
• A prison sentence interrupts
  employment, housing and
  family life – trapping offenders
  in a ‘revolving door’ of crime
  and custody.
• No opportunity for reparation

Question 6

Overcrowding

Answer 6

The Scottish prison system operates at around
97% capacity.
* Capacity of Scottish prisons: 7,725
* Prison population as at 28 July 2023: 7,868
Impacts of overcrowding:
* Prisons can’t provide rehabilitation
programmes for all prisoners.
* Too few prison officers to guard effectively.
* Stress, drug abuse and violence increase.
Overcrowding at HOM Edinburgh:
2017 inspection: some lack daily
access to open air, spend long
periods in cells.
2019: revealed to be Scotland’s
most crime-ridden jail:
* more than 1,000 offences
committed in just 3 years
* drug smuggling / dealing,
assaults, robbery, knife carrying

Question 7

Revolving door

Answer 7

• Released prisoners often have to start again from scratch,
  with no job or place to live.
• Poverty makes it difficult for ex-cons to avoid re-offending.
• Offenders with a history of addiction often have to stay in
  homeless shelters surrounded by addicts, making it difficult
  to avoid relapse.
• Short prison sentences are not long enough for effective
  rehabilitation. Many offenders are repeatedly in and out of
  prison, in a ‘revolving door’ of crime and custody.
  In Scotland,
  around 40%
  of released
  prisoners are
  reconvicted
  within a year
  of leaving
  prison.

Question 8

No reparation

Answer 8

• Prison does not give the
  offender a chance to make
  amends for their offence to
  the victim, family or
  community.
• Isolating offenders in prison
  makes is difficult for them
  to restore their relationship
  with the community.