Convener's Report
I apologise to everyone for being late. I believe that my deputy convener did a good job of rushing through some items on the agenda, and making some remarks about the state of our railways, which I support. Bill Aitken and I may wish to do something about the Glasgow to Edinburgh train on behalf of the general public, which I am sure would be appreciated.
We will work back the way. There are a few things that I wish to report to the committee. First, subject to the Parliamentary Bureau's agreement, next week we expect two affirmative Scottish statutory instruments to be referred to the committee for consideration. They are the draft Sheriff Courts (Scotland) Act 1971 (Privative Jurisdiction and Summary Cause) Order 2001 and the draft Small Claims (Scotland) Amendment Order 2001, which increase respectively the limit for summary cause actions in the sheriff court from £1,500 to £5,000, and the limit for small claim actions from £750 to £1,500. The committee could consider those orders on Wednesday 14 November if the bureau agrees.
It might be useful to have an indication of when those limits were last increased.
A note will be prepared for the committee as usual so that members know the background to the orders.
The second matter that I want to draw to members' attention is the two deaths that have recently occurred at HM Prison Cornton Vale. The committee will be aware that we have completed an interim report on women's offending and that we visited Cornton Vale with members of the Justice 1 Committee. I am sure that we intended to return to the matter, but I put it to the committee that, in the light of recent circumstances, we may wish to return to it as a matter of urgency.
Yesterday, I took the liberty of speaking to the chief inspector of prisons, Clive Fairweather. I told him that I would raise the matter at this morning's meeting. He said that, if the committee so wishes, he will be happy to come along and speak to us. I have also written to Tony Cameron and Clive Fairweather, saying that the committee is concerned about the recent events and may wish to do some further work on the matter.
There have now been 10 deaths at the prison since 1995. In its report, the committee felt that one of the achievements of the management in the past few years was bringing that situation to some kind of closure; clearly, however, that has not been the case.
We need to consider two particular issues. First, there is a record number of inmates at Cornton Vale. We have to consider that as a possible factor in the recent deaths of the two women. Secondly, there have been considerable changes in the management team of the prison, including the governor, the deputy governor and the medical director. The committee may wish to examine those two issues. Later in the meeting, we will be considering our future work plan. I know that we already have a heavy programme, but I felt that I ought to raise this matter of great importance this morning. I invite any comments or questions.
The Scottish Prison Service estates review is expected to be published in the relatively near future. If Clive Fairweather makes himself available to the committee for the purposes that you have described, convener, and if time permits, it may be useful to extend our questioning of him to get his feedback on the matter.
I would also like to pursue with Clive Fairweather the position of Peterhead prison, and I am sure that other members also have interests. I would not want to spring that on you, convener, when and if Clive Fairweather appears, so I thought it appropriate to mention that now.
The fact that there have been 10 deaths in six or seven years must be of great concern to us all. The reasons for them may be many and varied. We will perhaps wish to see the sheriff's views in the fatal accident inquiries that require to be held on the most recent cases.
This is a complex matter. There is an argument that Cornton Vale may be overcrowded, and we must recognise also that there is an unfortunate trend of women committing more serious offences and getting longer sentences. It may be that a different form of treatment from what is available at Cornton Vale may have to be considered for long-term prisoners.
Stewart Stevenson talked about Clive Fairweather coming to the committee to discuss the estates review and suggested that we cover the matters concerning Cornton Vale on the same occasion. I am not sure how appropriate that would be, as Cornton Vale is an issue that we should deal with separately. When we consider the work programme later in the meeting, we should look for a space in which to consider the prison estates review. It would be appropriate to keep the two matters separate.
Although the evidence presented to the committee and to the members who visited Cornton Vale was that things had improved in the prison, it is obviously very disappointing for everybody concerned that there have been two tragic deaths in the past week, and it is worrying as regards what the future might hold. We ought to seek further information on what has happened at the prison and on how problems can be addressed. We had already started to consider the appropriateness of sentencing and whether the women at the prison should be there. We should continue to review the other options that judges and sheriffs have to deal with women offenders.
That is all helpful.
I know that Stewart Stevenson has an interest in Peterhead prison. The convener of the Justice 1 Committee has agreed that that committee will deal with the prison estates review. The committee meetings should not clash so that we can interact with one another on that subject. It was agreed that we would consider women's offending and young offenders and continue with our report on Kilmarnock. Therefore it is appropriate for us to call relevant witnesses on those subjects. Perhaps Stewart Stevenson could go to the meetings of the Justice 1 Committee at which Clive Fairweather gives evidence about Peterhead prison.
Mary Mulligan spoke about our continuing work on alternatives to custody. That is the most relevant aspect of the subjects that we need to consider. We have been saying that all along and, without prejudging anything, it is becoming urgent that we find some time to progress that issue.
We should not prejudge anything. However, the woman who took her own life most recently in Cornton Vale was serving a life sentence for murder. It is difficult to see how there could have been an alternative sentence in that case.
The second prisoner was a remand prisoner. I spoke to Clive Fairweather last night and established that she was not held in the new remand wing that we saw. I am alerted to the fact that we need to go a bit deeper into what happened. The fatal accident inquiries will be compulsory because the women died while in custody. Obviously, we will not interfere with those inquiries.
When we talk about the future work programme we will return to the subject and find out how members think that it can be incorporated.