Prison visits

19th July 2016

Low Moss prison

Council members visited HM Young Offenders’ Institution, Polmont and HM Prison, Low Moss to find out more about what happens after offenders are sentenced to time in custody.

During our first year, we have been engaging with different aspects of the criminal justice system to broaden our understanding of the role that sentencing plays within it. This has included recent visits to HM Young Offenders’ Institution, Polmont and HM Prison, Low Moss.

About the visits

We were welcomed by the governors of each institution and met with both senior managers and front line staff to learn a bit about the challenges they face. We were also given the chance to speak directly with some of the offenders about their personal experiences.

“It was an honour to facilitate a visit by members of the Sentencing Council and some of their officials to Low Moss,” says Governor David Abernethy. “We tried to create an itinerary that would show the challenges we face every day in trying to do our part in making Scotland a safer place. We also tried to give the Council an insight into the very challenging issues that many of our residents have in their lives and how we try to help them to address those issues by working with our internal and external partners collaboratively and in an effective, coordinated and progressive way with the person in our care at the centre of that process. I look forward to the Sentencing Council guidelines and hope that, in some small way, we have been able to provide them with a greater understanding of what imprisonment in 21st century Scotland looks and feels like.”

The new Low Moss Prison was built in 2012 and Polmont has been significantly redeveloped over the last decade. Both places are modern and work has been done to create a physical environment that encourages a safe, ordered, and positive atmosphere for learning and behavioural change - while maintaining the necessary level of security.

We were given tours of each of the two buildings which included visits to the living areas. These are divided into halls depending on the length of sentence, and at Polmont, also depending on age. It was clear to see that there is a great deal of support through the initial difficult period of admission. One of the prisoners, in custody for the first time, spoke to us about how this support was helping him deal with his sentence and address his offending behaviour.

We were also told about some of the different programmes in place to help offenders turn their lives around and reduce re-offending. These range from school and college classes to hands-on qualifications with the chance to learn trades such as hairdressing, construction and gardening.

At Low Moss for example, offenders can take an SVQ qualification by working in the onsite ‘Freedom Bakery’ which currently sells bread to Glasgow cafes. And, with advice from waste management and recycling organisations, Low Moss has set up an onsite facility where offenders can gain a qualification that includes a direct path to a potential job. The ‘New You, New Future’ programme enables employers and support organisations to link-up and help qualified offenders move straight into work on release. In one of the areas we visited, we saw offenders working towards WAMITAB (Waste Management Industry Training & Advisory Board) qualifications ‘on the job’ in the prison’s onsite facility.

Other programmes build up transferrable employment skills - such as listening and communication - in more creative ways. The learning centres showcased some of the successes of ongoing projects with a display area for sculpture, painting and poetry. Project topics were chosen to tackle challenging issues including mental health, domestic violence and poverty. Tutors spoke about how their work can help offenders change who they are and provide a sense of hope for a more positive future. Polmont also works in partnership with Fife College to provide education in areas including parenting, health & wellbeing and community safety.

We also saw a very different side to the programmes, one which takes a step back from skills and training to address the root causes behind offending behaviour. We heard directly from several prisoners about their experience of dealing with the impact of their custodial sentence and addressing the behaviour that led to it, including how it affected both their victims and their families. They talked about how the projects helped them to better understand their pattern of offending and to then take positive steps to turn it around.

These initiatives tackle areas such as:

substance misuse
violence
sex offending
knife crime
risk taking
anger management
physical / mental wellbeing.

Transitional support for integration back into society is also prioritised and the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) works with a raft of partnership agencies at this final stage.

Low Moss has put in place the Prison Support Pathway (PSP) programme. This is a partnership between the SPS and organisations led by Turning Point Scotland, which works with short term prisoners to reduce reoffending.

Short-term offenders do not tend to have the same access to services as those serving a long term sentence where there may be a period of supervision in the community following custody. Having the PSP means that, from admission into custody through to release and thereafter in the community, short-term offenders leaving Low Moss have access to advice and support to help them tackle issues such as drug or alcohol dependency, or homelessness. Polmont provides similar through-care at its Links Centre where the young men have access to support on issues like benefits, employability and homelessness. (It is believed that a lack of access to such services may contribute to offending behaviour.**)

Susan Brookes, Governor of Polmont, said: “Having been a member of the original Sentencing Commission, I was delighted to facilitate a visit from the Sentencing Council to brief them on the progress made to date in creating a learning environment in Polmont. Raising awareness about the complex reasons why young men come into custody is essential if we are to reduce the number of victims and prevent future harm to children and young people in Scotland. I hope that the members of the Sentencing Council will be able to use their considerable influence for positive outcomes for young people and inform the debate about what will be most effective for the future.”

What we learned

There is a variety of reasons that offenders may be imprisoned and find themselves in custody. It may be considered necessary for public protection because there is a continuing risk of serious harm to others, or because the offence committed was so serious offenders need to be separated from the public. The programmes and community reintegration work we observed aim to help challenge and reduce this offending behaviour.

As well as prison programmes, we heard about concerns surrounding inmates with mental health problems and how these could be supported within custody. There were further concerns about the volume of admissions, resulting in particular from short sentences and remands (which will not always lead to a conviction or custodial sentence) as well as the availability of accommodation to offenders once back in the community. Prisoners can often become homeless on release and this may be a barrier to reducing reoffending behaviour.

Another factor taken from the visit to Polmont was that age is not necessarily a reliable indicator of intellectual, emotional or social maturity. This is particularly relevant to sentencing as the offender’s level of maturity may be taken into account when determining how responsible (or culpable) a person is for their offence. Research into brain development in young people explains differences in outlook and behaviour in comparison with adults and is helping to shape the approach taken to manage young offenders. In particular, there is an increased awareness of the impact traumatic bereavement has on developing brains.

Sheriff McFadyen (Council sheriff member) said: “Overall, the visit provided a real sense of what offenders face in custody in a modern Scottish institution and how their offending behaviour is being addressed. We appreciate the time and effort that the governors, staff and prisoners took to welcome us and to provide very helpful information on the issues they face. We will continue to engage with different parts of the justice system as we prepare to develop sentencing guidelines for the Scottish courts.”

(Reference: ** See, for example, Scottish Government Social Research, June 2015, Reid Howie Associates, June 2015 Housing and Reoffending: Supporting People Who Serve Short-term Sentences to Secure and Sustain Stable Accommodation on Liberation, Ch. 2.)

See the links below for more information on some of the SPS partner programmes:

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