By Brian Allison, local government reporter

RECOMMENDATIONS IN a review of Scotland’s prisons would have implications for the way local authorities supervise offenders, according to Dundee City Council social work director Alan Baird.

The findings of the Scottish Prisons Commission, which contain a range of proposals in response to the challenges of overcrowded prisons, are being considered by the Scottish government.

In a report to city councillors, Mr Baird said the commission had emphasised that public safety and reducing the damaging effect of crime on victims and communities is paramount, but recognised that rapidly growing and overcrowded prisons are making it increasingly difficult to secure public safety and respond effectively to serious crime.

Current projections, based on the fact that the average prison population has increased in every year this century, are that Scotland will have 8700 people in prison by 2016.

The commission has recommended that the government pursue a target of reducing the prison population to a daily average of 5000.

Mr Baird said the guiding principles in the commission’s findings were that punishment must be visible, swift and fair; communities should be at the heart of penal reform and action; prison populations must be controlled to achieve wider strategic objectives; and that Scotland can be an international model.

The commission has recommended imprisonment should be reserved for offenders whose crimes are so serious that no other form of punishment will do and for those who pose a threat of serious harm to the public.

“It recommends moving beyond imprisonment as a way of punishing offenders so that paying back in the community becomes the default position in dealing with less serious offenders,” Mr Baird said.

Recognising the importance of exploring the whole criminal justice process, specifically in relation to prosecution and the use of remand, the commission recommends that the government extends the types and availability of alternatives to prosecution and extends bail information and supervision through enhanced court-based social work units.

“Locally, work has been on-going through the (Tayside) Community Justice Authority to review bail and diversion services, and an operational working group has been established specifically to progress bail services,” Mr Baird said.

“Dundee has a dedicated staff member within the sheriff court and has already aligned diversion services within the same team.”

The commission recommends exploring options for detaining 16 and 17-year-olds in secure youth facilities separate from older offenders and those under the age of 16. It also suggested there would be merit in examining the case for specialist youth hearings.

“Within Dundee in the last year around 300 social inquiry reports were prepared on 16 and 17-year-olds and approximately 36 (12%) were sentenced to custody,” Mr Baird said.

“The commission suggests that, in order to command public support, both sentencing and the management of sentences needs to be more consistent, transparent and intelligible to the public.

“It therefore recommends establishing an independent national sentencing council who would develop sentencing guidelines that can be applied nationwide.

“Additionally, it recommends that, where sentences involving community supervision are imposed, there should be one single community supervision sentence which would encompass a wide range of conditions and measures.”

Mr Baird said the recommendations offered a significant change to the way sentences are imposed and managed and would have considerable implications for the way local authorities supervise offenders and commission services from other organisations involved in managing offenders.

He will provide further reports for the council as the recommendations are progressed and the implications for criminal justice social work services in Dundee become clearer.