SERIOUS action must be taken to reduce the still shockingly high levels of women on remand and short custodial sentences in Scotland, say prison reform campaigners. The Scottish government, they argue, needs to ensure fewer women are going to prison on short sentences, with more serving community sentences, and more alternatives are sought to putting women on remand, such as supervised bail.

Though the government has long promised to reduce the female prison population, Scotland still has one of the highest rates of female imprisonment in Northern Europe, and a relatively high percentage of women on remand. Since the 2012 Commission on Women Offenders, which called for the reduction in female prison population size, progress in achieving this goal has been all too slow and slight. According to a Prison Reform Trust report published last week, “Across Scotland 3,000 women are imprisoned each year, of whom almost two thirds are on remand.”

Yvonne Donald of the Prison Reform Trust said, "There continues to be far too many women on remand in Scotland, particularly given only 30% of those women going on to receive a custodial sentence. The decision to remand a women who is presumed innocent should primarily be as a matter of public safety not as a solution to care and complex social needs. With so few women going on to receive a custodial sentence, more needs to be done to expand the use of non-custodial options such as supervised bail, ensuring women are given support accessing the services and solutions that we know mainly lie outwith the prison walls.”

Anne Pinkman, convenor of the Scottish Working Group On Women Offending, called for the government to commit to “extending the presumption against short term sentences to over three months” and to introduce the “‘no real prospect test’, whereby women are not remanded into custody when there is no prospect of them getting a custodial sentence.” She said, “Whilst we have certainly turned a corner on short-term sentences, we’re seeing far too many women on remand. We need to reduce our numbers. To have 28% of the female prison population on remand is too high.”

Maggie Mellon, Justice for Women spokesperson for Women For Independence, said the major obstacle to reducing female prison numbers was “lack of services that help women address problems of poor mental health and drug and alcohol use, and to get out of abusive or exploitative relationships”

“Sheriffs are often faced with women who have evident social and health problems," she said, "and are being prosecuted and facing prison not because of the seriousness of their offences, but because of the lack of other services that could divert them from prosecution, punishment, remand or sentence to imprisonment. ”

A spokesperson for the Scottish government said, “We are exploring further ways to reduce the use of remand. Over the last year, we have provided Community Justice Authorities with an additional £1.5 million to support increasing the use of early and effective intervention and supervised bail as a direct alternative to remand for women.

“We want to see fewer ineffective short-term prison sentences used, and more community sentences, which help to reduce reoffending by supporting people to turn their lives around.”