New women's prison to replace Cornton Vale

A new women's prison, catering for just 80 offenders, is to be built to replace Scotland's only female jail at Cornton Vale in Stirling.

Justice Secretary Michael Matheson blocked previous plans for a 300-inmate jail in Inverclyde five months ago.

The prison, which will be built close to the existing Cornton Vale facility, will house the most serious offenders.

Another five regional units will also be created to house 20 female prisoners each.

The regional units will offer help over drugs, alcohol and domestic abuse and will allow offenders to be held close to their families to make it easier for contact to be maintained.

The Scottish government said it also intended to promote the use of community-based alternatives to short-term prison sentences, including the restriction of liberty through the increased use of electronic monitoring.

Cornton Vale, which was built in 1975, has had a notorious history, being nicknamed "the vale of death" after 11 prisoners killed themselves there between 1995 and 2002.

The current jail at Cornton Vale is designed to hold over 300 women prisoners

The latest figures showed there were a total of 408 female prisoners in Scotland.

Of those, 226 were at Cornton Vale, 80 in Edinburgh, 48 at HMP Grampian and 54 in Greenock.

International evidence

Despite attempts to improve conditions, ministers decided Cornton Vale would close after former Lord Advocate Dame Elish Angiolini's 2012 report said it was "not fit for purpose".

It can hold 307 women, but has frequently accommodated many more.

The previous justice secretary, Kenny MacAskill, wanted to build a new jail in Inverclyde, but Mr Matheson dropped the plan, saying Scotland needed a new, radical approach for female offenders.

Mr Matheson said: "These are progressive proposals, they draw on the best available international evidence of what works, but they are tailored to specific circumstances here in Scotland.

"I've seen various justice policies labelled as 'soft' or 'tough' in recent years, but I think the time is right to move away from this kind of narrative - what we are doing here is taking a 'smart' approach, just as we've seen in our strategy for reducing youth offending which has proven so successful.

"What is important is doing the right thing for Scotland and our communities, based firmly on the evidence of what works in reducing reoffending. That is what we are implementing here."

He added: "What we need is a new approach. We need to continue to transform and improve services for women so that we can help them to break the cycle of reoffending.

"I believe that accommodating female offenders, where appropriate, in smaller units, close to their families, with targeted support to address the underlying issues such as alcohol, drugs, mental health or domestic abuse trauma is the way ahead."

Sustainable funding

The new approach has been backed by the Howard League for Penal Reform.

Its Scottish convener, John Scott QC, said: "The emphasis must be on preventing women from becoming caught up in the criminal justice system in the first place, diverting them at the point of arrest and prosecution wherever possible, and reducing the use of remand and short-term prison sentences.

"There must too be sustainable funding for community-based services and there are lessons to be learned from the success of work with young offenders and the reduction in numbers at Polmont.

"If we redouble our efforts and take a 'whole systems approach', there is no reason why the success in reducing the number of young people in custody cannot be replicated for women in custody in Scotland."

The 180 new prison places for women announced by the justice secretary are in addition to 50 which were part of the recently-opened HMP Grampian.