Extending the presumption against jail sentences of three months or less would reduce the “churn” of short-term prisoners, the Justice Secretary has said.
Michael Matheson indicated the Scottish Government may favour increasing the limit in order to free up resources for community sentences.
A recent public consultation asked whether the current presumption should be increased to six, nine or 12 months.
Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons for Scotland, the Howard League for Penal Reform, Apex Scotland, councils and social-work organisations are among those who said they would back a 12-month limit.
Mr Matheson told Holyrood’s Justice Committee he hoped to see an analysis of submissions to the consultation in the coming weeks.
He said: “Once I’ve had an opportunity to then consider what the findings are from the consultation, we will then be in a position where we can take a view on what we think should be any change to the presumption against.
“The vast majority of individuals within our custodial estate have a sentence of two years or more.
“If the presumption was to be increased then it will help to reduce the churn of those who get those short sort of six-month type sentences and the level of resource that that takes up within our prison system, which will free up that resource to be used much more effectively.
“It won’t have a big impact on the global number within our prison system but it certainly will potentially have a significant impact on the churn that we have of short-term prison sentences and the range of that impact will be dependent upon the threshold at which we set the presumption.”
Mr Matheson said an increase in the threshold had the potential to have a greater impact on women offenders as they are more likely to get short-term sentences.
He added: “If we increase the presumption against and that saves a marked level of resource within the prison service, that can then be better utilised for supporting areas such as community disposals.
“The challenge here is that if you reduce the prison population to community disposals that money isn’t released until that reduction has taken place, but these individuals have to be somewhere else receiving those alternatives to custody.
“That is why we’re attempting just now to start some of that shift.”