The Scottish Government has been forced to release 500 people from prison early, because of concerns about overcrowding and a lack of safety for prisoners and staff. While this is a stop-gap measure, it is an indication that our prison system can no longer cope with the role it is tasked with – implementing justice. Perhaps, then, this is a good time to ask whether it achieves this, even in better times.

After researching people’s experiences in and after prison for almost 20 years, I have concluded there is very little justice in our criminal ‘justice’ system. On a large scale – why do we punish similar acts so differently, depending on who performs them? You are 23 times more likely to be prosecuted for benefit fraud than for tax fraud, even though tax fraud costs the economy several times more. Scottish Prison Population Statistics show that 34% of people arriving in prison come from the 10% most deprived areas of Scotland, while only 1.1% come from the 10% least deprived areas.

The US-based site https://www.weareallcriminals.org/ shows how those perceived as law-abiding citizens escape detection and punishment. Its homepage states: "One in four people in the US has a criminal record. Four in four has a criminal history".

In Scotland, one in three men has a criminal conviction, but almost all of us have committed crimes in the past, whether through drug possession, insurance fraud, non-payment of taxes or something else. Probably my most serious offence was taking MDMA when I was 17 and sharing it with my younger brother. Like at least 60% of crimes, it went unreported.

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Most of us escape the penalty when we offend. However, the unlucky few are only seen as offenders by state institutions, potential employers and, arguably, society itself. People who cycle in and out of prison live under heavy police surveillance, because they are known to the police and are seen as an easy target.

Small misdemeanours are punished harshly. One man told me he could not even ‘piss in the street’ without ending up in prison. Rights to victimhood are lost, even when their crimes are much less serious than the crimes against them. A woman I spoke to had turned her life around and was no longer offending but was then raped. She started drinking to cope and was imprisoned for shoplifting. Such traumatic experiences are not rare for the people who cycle in and out of our prisons, trauma deepened by their incarceration and the way our society is structured, where little hope exists for them inside or outside of prison.

Sadly, the findings of my research are not exceptional. The difficulties experienced by almost all those in prison are well known, although they still often shock those who stumble upon them for the first time, whether as researchers, as family members, or as prisoners.

It is equally well known that prisons fail in many respects. Forty-four percent of people released from prison are reconvicted within one year, rising to 61% of those who have been in prison less than three months. Prisons fail to punish, because to survive imprisonment you have to get used to it.

Many of those going in and out of prison end up feeling like they belong more inside than outside. This is not because of the ‘cushy’ conditions of imprisonment (during the pandemic lock-ups of 23 hours per day were common, along with lack of access to sanitation and no visits) but because they end up with nothing on the outside: no place to live, no people to be with, no practice in dealing with the uncertainties and responsibilities of life outside. No one should feel they belong in a place of punishment.

Many of those going in and out of prison end up feeling like they belong more inside than outside.Many of those going in and out of prison end up feeling like they belong more inside than outside. (Image: free)

In the media and society at large, though, such views are often portrayed as out of touch and ignoring the gravity of harm and the needs of victims. But, just as we are all criminals, most of us are also victims. I have been the victim of several crimes. Aged 19, I was attacked by someone with learning difficulties I was supporting. This never came to the attention of the criminal justice system and shouldn’t have. We knew his mental health was deteriorating, and it was dealt with through social work and a medication change. I was fine, both physically and mentally.

I was not fine after sexual abuse in early childhood; it’s taken me decades to see this as abuse and to see my ongoing struggles with my self-image as the consequence of this abuse. My abuser died years ago but would I have liked to see him imprisoned? No. I would not have wanted such punishment for him as a child, nor would I want it now.

My first choice would be for it not to have happened. Prevention. Non-judgemental resources in the community that are readily available to all. After the harm, instead of punishment, I would have liked support to understand and overcome what happened and the opportunity to tell him what it did to me. And like most victims, I’m more interested in making sure no one else is victimised than I am in punishment. But our preferences are limited by the criminal justice system that we have. Its blinkered outlook is not serving victims, ‘offenders’ or the general public.

Isn’t it time for a major rethink and a move towards a system that acknowledges connections, complexities and delivers justice?

Dr Marguerite Schinkel is a senior lecturer in Criminology at the University of Glasgow, and a member of the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research