Long-term Prisoner Release Consultation Response SASW

A consultation from the Scottish Government on Long-term prisoner release proposals.
SASW Logo

Questions

Question 1

It is necessary to reduce the prison population in a way which is sustainable and feasible within a short period of time. This proposal is part of a package of measures to reduce the prison population.

Please share any views you have on the general proposal that the point of release on non-parole licence for long-term prisoners should be at an earlier point.

Please limit your response to 3000 characters.

The Scottish Association of Social Work (SASW) is part of the British Association of Social Workers, the largest professional body for social workers in the UK. 

BASW UK has 21,000 members employed in frontline, management, academic and research positions in all care settings. This includes people working across health and social care, education, children and families, justice services in both the public and independent sectors.  

Social work grew out of humanitarian and democratic ideals, based on respect for the equality, worth, and dignity of all people. Contexts in which social workers operate are complex. Competing rights need to be managed in justice, those are often the rights between people in prison and those of victims and the community.

Scotland has one of the highest rates of imprisonment in Western Europe. Currently we know that around 28% of people in prison are awaiting trial or sentence, the majority having been accused of serious offences.

Whilst the question from Government, ie have we got too many people in prison, and what should we do about that, is welcome, a proper response cannot be driven by the issue of prison capacity other than for the urgent short term.  Our longer term thinking must ensure our justice system, including the use of imprisonment, delivers justice for victims and rehabilitation to prevent further harm.  Any aim to achieve a rehabilitative approach must pay attention to the high levels of disadvantage and inequality experienced by many people who come into custodial settings.  Scotland’s policy focus on alternatives to prosecution and the presumption against short sentences offer some steps forward but, to date, the impact of these on the number of people landing in Scottish prisons is negligible.

People who have committed serious offences and receive custodial sentences undertake a series of programmes in prison designed to address their understanding of the impact and acceptance of responsibility for the crimes they committed.  The recent HMIP Thematic Review of Prisoner Progression in Scottish Prisons/ found significant issues around prison staff and prisoners’ understanding of and ability to access these programmes. The scope of these programmes is the individual themselves, their behaviour and the changes they themselves can make. Whilst this is a key element of the rehabilitative journey to a life of safe citizenry, people preparing to leave prison need formal social support to ensure they have the basics of safety as they leave prisons; stable housing, money to live on, things to do or goals for their lives, health care and identified people to help if things become shaky.  A more nuanced approach to interventions in custody would allow improved assessment of risk and social need which would in turn deliver more effective plans to manage risk and promote reintegration into the community rather than the current reliance on the formal programmes for progression. Those who have committed serious offences need additional monitoring and risk management by skilled professionals to ensure their living, relationship and employment situations pose minimal risk to our communities. 

Question 2

Please share any views you have on the general proposal that the point of release on non-parole licence should be proportionate to sentence length (as opposed to a fixed point).

Please limit your response to 3000 characters.

A proportionate approach feels fair to everyone. However, the point of prison is justice and rehabilitation and judgement as to the point at which release should happen should take these into account:

Justice: Is the sentence served really commensurate to the crime and the need for victims to see that society takes their harm seriously?

Rehabilitation: Has everything that should have been available for rehabilitation within the prison been made use of and is there enough time left on the licence to set up boundaries and monitoring to assure community safety?

Non-parole licence is for people whom the Parole Board did not give parole at the halfway point of their sentence or at subsequent parole board hearings before automatic release. In addition disadvantage and poverty alongside disability, mental health, trauma and substance use, are prevalent in people in custody.

This indicates a heightened level of risk for communities and therefore early release is likely to require a more intensive approach for this specific cohort.

Question 3

Please share any views you have on the specific proposal to release most long-term prisoners on non-parole licence following two thirds of their sentence.

Please limit your response to 3000 characters.

Imprisonment is punishment. It disrupts the offender’s life, relationships, home and family and their future prospects.   Prison does not, in itself, rehabilitate.  It creates community safety by the removal of the offender to a place where they cannot harm the community. Nearly everyone in prison gets out and at some point will not even be subject to licence and community supervision. 

Currently some people on non-parole licence get out at 2/3s sentence and some at 6 months before end of sentence. This can mean great differences in the percentage of the sentence served and in the amount of time people are subject to their licences. 

A period of six months of community supervision before the termination of the sentence, is very little time in which to establish a stable new life outside prison. In terms of community safety, a longer period where breach of licence could result in recall to prison would firstly give more time to secure social supports, refine risk management and to assure that the licencee can safely live without supervision and the likelihood of reoffending is at its lowest. The proposal for early release must be accompanied by improved case management within prisons and support both inside and out to avoid recalls which will continue to increase the prison population. In addition, failed releases will result in recalls to prison which will again impact the capacity of social work in contributing to recall case management and parole board recall hearings. 

Question 4

Would you like to offer any additional views or evidence in relation to these proposals? This could include consideration of the operational impacts of the proposed changes.

Please limit your response to 3000 characters.

Non-parole licence is for people whom the Parole Board did not give parole at the halfway point of their sentence or ay any subsequent point of their sentence before automatic release. This indicates a heightened level of risk for communities and is therefore likely to require a more intensive approach for this cohort.  We know that people in prison experience high levels of mental ill-health, substance use issues, and have needs as a result of learning disability and neurodiversity.  People on non-parole licence may have been in prison a long time and have lost or not developed the social skills we all need to navigate the modern world.  Housing, healthcare and social work will all require the right resource to ensure the transition out of prison is supervised and supported.  If the release criteria is reduced from six months to 2/3 sentence, there will be an impact on these services. 

Communities rely on justice social workers to work with the prison service, police and others to ensure that any risks a person in prison presents can be managed when they are released. Social workers are the key supervisors and case holders of licencees in the community and we rightly expect their work to have a significant impact on the safety and wellbeing of all of us. The social work workforce has high levels of vacancies and we know is already at a point of crisis in being able to deliver statutory duties. 25% of social workers leave the profession in the first six years of their career and a high number of those who remain are stressed, overworked and say they do not have the resources that people need.  Justice social work is inextricably linked to both adults and children’s social work and increased workloads will affect the entire system.

A review of the impact of the number of people coming out of prison on the resources of social work, the third sector, housing and health should form part of the decision about whether it is reasonable to expect higher levels of community supervision and the impact of this on social work and other public services.