Young Offenders
Members may remember that HM chief inspector of prisons for Scotland invited a member of the committee to HM Young Offenders Institution Polmont and that we agreed to send Scott Barrie, as he is reporting on youth offending. As there were no other volunteers, I asked whether I could go with him on 3 December. I want to record in the Official Report that we are grateful for the approach that the HM prisons inspectorate team has taken with the justice committees and for its co-operation in allowing us to view what it does while it is carrying out an inspection in an institution.
Members should have a copy of Mr Fairweather's general assessment of Polmont, which was distributed to the Scottish Prison Service headquarters yesterday. The report is not yet public, so members should bear in mind its sensitivity.
Scott and I will speak briefly about the visit.
I had not been to Polmont for 12 years. I should add that I was not an inmate—I visited through my previous occupation.
I thought that you were telling lies about your age.
I was favourably impressed by some parts of the estate. I remembered that the physical condition of the institution had been quite poor, but it is a lot better now and there is new build. Two halls are still to be updated, but in general, conditions were unrecognisable compared to those that we witnessed on our visit to Longriggend remand centre with the then convener of the Justice and Home Affairs Committee, Roseanna Cunningham. There, we were appalled at the conditions in which many inmates had to reside. I do not think that the convener of this committee came on that visit. The majority of inmates at Polmont do not seem to live in such conditions, although, in two halls, there is no internal sanitation and the fabric of the building is considerably poorer.
I was struck by the ease with which we could walk through the institution. Neither the way in which prison officers addressed inmates nor the atmosphere among inmates seemed oppressive. In adult prisons, an underlying current of unease is often noticeable, but we did not notice that on this visit—although it was only brief.
I was concerned—as was the inspector with whom I went round—that, in Lomond hall, where the under-18s are kept, most of them were still in their cells and had not taken up the opportunity to go to work or recreation. The officers said that that is a particular problem with the 16 to 18-year-olds. They said that people are, in effect, turning night into day; they are staying awake most of the night and are therefore either too tired to do things during the day, or cannot be bothered. I find it sad that they are not taking up learning and work opportunities and are therefore leading a pretty unstructured existence. That does not augur well for their future outside the prison. That is the biggest disappointment for me and it was commented on by most of the staff.
After the visit was over, we heard adverse comments about the post-prison reintegration of inmates with society. The assistant governor expressed his concern that local authorities seem reluctant to take people on any sort of programmes after their release, whereas the private sector is very good and has links with the institution. I was disappointed to hear that local authorities are poor at offering opportunities to people on post-release programmes. I have lodged a question to the Scottish Executive on that matter. If we are serious about offering a future to people after prison, job opportunities will be key.
There may be good reasons for that reluctance among local authorities—I am sure that the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 has a lot to do with it—but, given the number of staff that local authorities employ, there must be positions for some of those young men.
It was very useful to have a look at the young offenders institution and to learn about the education provision and so on. Dan Gunn, the governor, has been there for five years. That has been deliberate because it was felt that, in that environment, some stability was needed at the top.
Statistics show that the male population of prisoners is going down but that they are serving longer sentences—although the governor raised the concern that more than half the population were serving short-term sentences of less than six months. That length of time means that officers cannot do the correctional rehabilitation work that they would like to. I am not sure what their conclusion was—whether they were asking for longer sentences—but we certainly noted the point.
The prison was overcrowded when we visited. Its capacity is 422 prisoners, but it was holding 452. That is a recurring feature of the Prison Service. The new block that is being built will house more than 200 prisoners. There has been talk of housing some of the long-term prisoners from Dumfries but there is resistance to that suggestion. What would be the point of improving the facilities if more prisoners were then added until the institution was back to square one? Reinvestment is needed at Polmont if people are to remain there. Important work is under way.
The prison has the only swimming pool in the Scottish Prison Service—we were told to keep quiet about that—and particularly good gym facilities. That is one way in which prisoners can be encouraged to participate and order can be kept in a young offenders institution. As Scott Barrie said, the assumption cannot be made that every young person wants to get out on the treadmill, but the opportunity is there and the swimming pool is well used. However, gym facilities and swimming pools are resource intensive and there are not enough staff to ensure that such facilities can be used as much as one would like. Those issues were raised.
The prison has a system called throughcare—I think that Saughton prison in Edinburgh is the only other prison in the estate that uses that system. The system tries to bring together what a prisoner might need on being released and brings benefit issues together.
Educational needs are also identified. There is an impressive set-up of teachers in classrooms. Prisoners' basic skills were identified and they are expected to undergo tests. A further assessment during sentences has been introduced in which levels of literacy are established and prisoners are asked whether they want to progress their literacy and do mathematics or other subjects. A lot of good work that ought to be well supported is going on in the institution.
As Scott Barrie said, the prison cannot really get behind the issue of how to continue prisoners' rehabilitation on release and thinks that more initiatives are needed to get people back into work.
That is an overview of our findings. Probably in January, Scott Barrie will report to the committee with more information on other findings. The committee will need to determine whether it wishes to continue with that work. The service has a number of good aspects and things that need to be done were drawn out. We could consider those issues in more depth.
I want to add something for the Official Report. Senior prison staff referred to the disproportionate incidence of certain characteristics among young inmates, many of whom had a disruptive school history and left school with no formal qualifications. A huge number were excluded from formal education for a large part of their latter school years. That message comes up over and over and we need to consider it in a wider sense.
I am concerned that there seems to be a dearth of activity. If those youngsters are to have any chance in life, they must adapt to a pattern that will make them suitable employees in the future. If they are lying about in their cells all day and not doing anything, that is completely unconstructive. What steps are being made to encourage them to carry out useful work? I accept the point in Clive Fairweather's paper that the wage differential between doing nothing and doing something is derisory. I understand why, in financial terms, they would not think that it is worth while to do anything. What encouragement is offered to them to do something that might make them a better option in the job market? If they come out of prison and do not work, they will fall back into their old ways. The sentence will simply have taken them out of circulation for three months, which is not the entire answer.
That is a fair question. I am sure that Scott Barrie and I do not want to give the impression that a great number of prisoners are lying about in cells. On the contrary, physical activity and work is on offer. I cannot remember if we saw any work being done, but there is a kind of working day. There is also an education centre so that prisoners can spend time in the classroom. People cannot duck all activity, but they cannot be forced to go out and run in the gym. The prison has awarded four individuals lifesaving certificates, which the prisoners concerned were able to use in gaining employment. That success is quite unusual, and the prison officers would like to make more use of the pool facility, as they see a link between skills gained there and employment.
We visited the medical centre, which was also impressive. The figures for suicide at Polmont are low in comparison with, say, Cornton Vale prison. We were interested in comparing the reasons for that difference. Polmont is the only prison ever to have been awarded charter mark status for its medical centre. Although I am not entirely sure what that is, I was told that it is a significant award that comes from the Prime Minister's office, so the work of the medical centre has certainly been recognised. As with the rest of the prison estate, we saw a lot of good rehabilitation work going on that people do not know about. However, a lot of work still needs to be done.
I will make an observation before I ask a question. I do not think that I will tell the pupils of Mintlaw Academy that they can gain access to a swimming pool if they commit offences. The community in Mintlaw has managed to raise £250,000, but the council cannot underpin the necessary guarantee for a pool to be built. The academy is the only school in Aberdeenshire that does not have a pool.
That was my girn for the day—I will now move on to ask my question. Clive Fairweather's report says that 10 prisoners started on the STOP 2000 programme on 19 November. It was with some concern that I noted his comment that those prisoners attend classes five days a week. The clear indication from Professor Bill Marshall, who has been helping Peterhead prison with sex offenders, is that international experience suggests that classes should be held on no more than three days a week, because the prisoners require time to study and address the issues that come up during the sessions. That is a precursor to my simple question: did you have an opportunity during the visit to talk to anyone about the prison's sex offenders?
No.
No, we did not, although the existence of the unit for sex offenders was explained to us. Was it called Rannoch, Scott?
I get the names mixed up.
There was no substantial discussion about the sex offenders.
To respond to Bill Aitken's point, I do not want to give the impression that all the prisoners are lying around their cells. There is a difficulty motivating prisoners in the hall that houses the younger members of the prison population. However, that may be more to do with their experience of how their life had become unstructured and why they got into trouble in the first place. That difficulty was simply pointed out to us. It appears from the inspections that have taken place over the past two years that there has been quite an improvement. Previously, a large number of prisoners were spending a large part of their day locked up because prison staff were undertaking other duties, such as court escort duties. Those duties have been reduced, so staff are able to offer more consistent opportunities for work in the sheds, for example, than was the case previously. The provisional report contains favourable comments on that point.
I do not think that there would be a difficulty if you wished to pursue the issue of sex offenders at Polmont, Stewart. In compiling the report that Scott Barrie is working on, there is no reason why we should not exchange correspondence with the Scottish Prison Service to obtain a few more statistics and further information, if that would be helpful.
I am particularly interested in the issue because it is also a constituency matter for me. I can hardly criticise Polmont for taking action and adopting the STOP 2000 programme, which it has just started in the past few weeks. However, experience from elsewhere suggests that it may be counterproductive to go at the programme with the enthusiasm that Polmont demonstrates.
I thank members for their comments. We will hear more from Scott Barrie on his report in January.