Historical sex offences lead to rise in older prisoners
- Published
Scotland's prison population has risen despite fewer people being jailed by courts
The number of men aged over 55 in Scottish prisons has more than doubled in the past decade.
Analysis of official figures, external showed they now represent 7% of the prison population - up from 3.3%.
Overall prisoner numbers have risen sharply in the past two years, despite fewer people being jailed by courts.
The Scottish government said the figures indicated those who commit serious crimes and pose a risk to the public are spending longer behind bars.
Although prisoner numbers fell sharply during the lockdown to protect inmates and staff from Covid-19, they have now begun to rise again.
The official figures suggest average sentence lengths have been increasing, reflecting the high number of historical sex crimes being prosecuted in Scotland's courts.
More than 75% of all cases before the High Court, which deals with the most serious crimes, are sexual offences, which typically attract longer sentences.
Despite a series of reviews in recent years the number of women in jail has remained stable - around 400 - while the number of young offenders in custody fell from 865 in 2010-11 to 326 in 2019-20.
Prisoner numbers have begun to rise again after a sharp reduction because of early releases during the pandemic
In 2010-11 there were an average of 259 (3.3%) older prisoners aged over 55 in the Scottish prison system.
A decade later the figure had more than doubled to 574, representing 7% of the overall prison population.
Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf said the figures indicated those who commit serious crimes and pose a risk of harm to the public are spending longer in prison than previously.
He expressed disappointment that a large proportion of men and women in custody were serving short prison terms for less serious offences.
What do the figures show?
The average daily prison population rose from 7,464 in 2017-18 to 8,195 two years later, a rise of almost 10%
17,294 people were jailed in 2019-20, 15% fewer than a decade earlier
Sentences are getting longer, with those leaving prison having spent a year or more in custody rising from 7% to 10% since 2010-11
Numbers of young offenders have fallen from 865 a decade ago to 326 in 2019-20
The Scottish government has legislated for a presumption against jail terms of less than 12 months, with sheriffs and judges being ordered to give a written explanation if they impose short jail sentences.
Mr Yousaf said: "While such decisions are made based on the facts and circumstances before the sheriff or judge, we know that people released from a short prison sentence of 12 months or less are reconvicted nearly twice as often than those sentenced to serve community payback orders (CPOs), the most commonly used community sentence.
"That is why the Scottish government will continue to encourage the use of more effective community interventions, which also allow an appropriate level of supervision, without the disruptive and often counterproductive impacts of imprisonment, such as losing a job to support your family, losing your home or the close and positive contact with loved ones."
The number of people in Scotland's jails stood at an almost record level of 8,400 in November 2019, but fell to around 6,700 in May 2020.
A spokesman for the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) said: "There was a significant reduction in the number of people in custody during the coronavirus outbreak because of the early release programme and the suspension of court business.
"The courts are now starting back and numbers in prison are beginning to rise again, albeit slowly."