The Scottish Prison Service (SPS)

Question 1

What is a custodial sentence?

Answer 1

When someone’s freedom is taken away from them and they spend time in prison.

Question 2

What are the 4 main aims of the SPS?

Answer 2

To protect
To humanely care for offenders
To reduce reoffending
To offer value for money

Question 3

What are the three purposes of prison in Scotland?

Answer 3

To rehabilitate
To punish
To protect

Question 4

What does it mean to rehabilitate?

Answer 4

To deal with some of the issues as to why someone is in prison and to tackle these issues to make sure that they do not reoffend.

Question 5

What does it mean to punish?

Answer 5

To make someone pay for the crime that they have committed and to make sure that the public feel like they have retribution.

Question 6

How do prisons keep the public safe?

Answer 6

By locking away dangerous criminals.

Question 7

According to the Scottish Govt, how much does it cost to keep one person in prison for a year?

Answer 7

£40,000

Question 8

between 2018 and 2019 the reconviction rate for custodial sentences was what?

Answer 8

43.8%

Question 9

More than half of those who are sentenced to 6 months or less reoffend?

Answer 9

True

Question 10

Why is overcrowding dangerous?

Answer 10

Can create violent and chaotic conditions, and it makes it difficult for prison officers to control.

Question 11

Around what % of prisoners have mental health issues?

Answer 11

70%

Question 12

At any one time it is estimated that there is how many prisoners in Scotland?

Answer 12

7,500

Question 13

How does prison keep the public safe?

Answer 13

As it keeps offenders in prison, this means that they cannot reoffend/cause further harm to society while they are incarcerated.

Question 14

One example of rehabilitation that teaches prisoners new skills is …

Answer 14

Scotland’s prison hairdressing competition

Question 15

Whose families have publicly spoken about prison offering them justice?

Answer 15

Karen Buckley’s and Julie Reilly’s

Question 16

Labelled a psychopath, it can be argued that prison keeps the public safe from who?

Answer 16

Aaron Campbell

Question 17

Teaching someone to learn how to cope with life outside is known as?

Answer 17

Rehabilitation

Question 18

Making sure that someone has to face the consequences of their actions is known as

Answer 18

Punishment

Question 19

Keeping people off the streets and locking up dangerous people is the prisons

Answer 19

keeping the public safe

Question 20

Prisons are ineffective as they often fail to tackle to the causes of crime?

Answer 20

True

Question 21

What institute realised that custodial sentences don’t tackle the causes of crime and instead turned to care-based alternatives for 16 & 17 year olds?

Answer 21

Polmont Young Offenders

Question 22

Why do people argue that the cost of prison is not effective?

Answer 22

As the money could be better spent on education and rehabilitation.

Question 23

In 2023 the Scottish Government has been widely criticised for how many of their prisons being over capacity?

Answer 23

2/3rds