The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) Flashcards
What is a custodial sentence?
When someone’s freedom is taken away from them and they spend time in prison.
What are the 4 main aims of the SPS?
To protect
To humanely care for offenders
To reduce reoffending
To offer value for money
What are the three purposes of prison in Scotland?
To rehabilitate
To punish
To protect
What does it mean to rehabilitate?
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.
What does it mean to punish?
To make someone pay for the crime that they have committed and to make sure that the public feel like they have retribution.
How do prisons keep the public safe?
By locking away dangerous criminals.
According to the Scottish Govt, how much does it cost to keep one person in prison for a year?
£40,000
between 2018 and 2019 the reconviction rate for custodial sentences was what?
43.8%
More than half of those who are sentenced to 6 months or less reoffend?
True
Why is overcrowding dangerous?
Can create violent and chaotic conditions, and it makes it difficult for prison officers to control.
Around what % of prisoners have mental health issues?
70%
At any one time it is estimated that there is how many prisoners in Scotland?
7,500
How does prison keep the public safe?
As it keeps offenders in prison, this means that they cannot reoffend/cause further harm to society while they are incarcerated.
One example of rehabilitation that teaches prisoners new skills is …
Scotland’s prison hairdressing competition
Whose families have publicly spoken about prison offering them justice?
Karen Buckley’s and Julie Reilly’s
Labelled a psychopath, it can be argued that prison keeps the public safe from who?
Aaron Campbell
Teaching someone to learn how to cope with life outside is known as?
Rehabilitation
Making sure that someone has to face the consequences of their actions is known as
Punishment
Keeping people off the streets and locking up dangerous people is the prisons
keeping the public safe
Prisons are ineffective as they often fail to tackle to the causes of crime?
True
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?
Polmont Young Offenders
Why do people argue that the cost of prison is not effective?
As the money could be better spent on education and rehabilitation.
In 2023 the Scottish Government has been widely criticised for how many of their prisons being over capacity?
2/3rds
