The next item of business is a members’ business debate, in the name of Annabel Goldie, on the throughcare support project at HM Prison Greenock. The debate will be concluded without any question being put. Sadly, Annabel Goldie cannot be with us, for very understandable reasons. I therefore call Jackson Carlaw to open the debate.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament notes the Through Care Support Project being operated at HM Prison Greenock, which involves members of staff acting as Through Care Support Officers; understands that this offers prisoners preparing for release known members of staff whom they trust and whom they have confidence to seek advice from; notes that these officers support the prisoners prior to and after release; believes that this is an effective and constructive way to support prisoners back into the community that positively addresses the challenge of reoffending, and commends this project as a positive model for Scottish prisons.
17:04
I stand in my best Jaeger two-piece, and I am delighted to speak on behalf of my colleague Annabel Goldie, who unfortunately cannot be here because she is unwell. She has asked me to read the following message:
“I am sorry not to be with you for the debate and am most grateful to Jackson Carlaw for stepping in. Lest my political opponents get too excited I’m on the mend and hope to be back to normal next week. I thank everyone for their kind messages of support.”
She tells me that she hopes to get out of hospital tomorrow, with oral antibiotics, which I suppose are preferable to any other, I say with some relief. I know that she is disappointed to be missing the debate, because she very much wanted to sing the praises of HM Prison Greenock’s throughcare support project. It is my pleasure to stand in, particularly as the project does good work in a prison in my constituency and as I welcomed the announcement of the pilot in May last year. I thank members from all parties for supporting the motion.
The idea for the debate came after a visit to HMP Greenock in December, when Annabel met the acting governor, William Stuart, to see at first hand the work of the pilot project, which is designed to extend the supportive role of Scottish Prison Service staff beyond the prison gates. The project has had an investment of approximately £70,000 and employs throughcare support officers to assist offenders who leave custody with accessing services on issues such as housing, benefits and addiction. That strikes Annabel and me as common sense. In short, HMP Greenock has recognised that prisoners who leave custody need assistance and support.
The project acknowledges that, when prisoners are released, they face a daunting situation. They have been incarcerated in a safe environment, fed, sheltered and given routine. The moment that a prisoner is released, they need to be organised, to have access to services, to be able to fill in forms, to find transportation and to face the practical and immediate problem of fending for themselves. That is difficult enough for offenders leaving a controlled environment and entering the big bad world, but we know that prisoners are likely to have literacy and numeracy difficulties, which bring even greater challenges.
The throughcare support officers provide vital support to prisoners who have signed up to the scheme—it is not compulsory. They carry out six weeks of preparation with the prisoner prior to their release and then assist the individual in the community for six weeks after their release. That can make a real difference to an individual—the difference between a prisoner who has no help in the outside world and who reoffends and a prisoner who is assisted and encouraged and given the right tools to start a rehabilitated life in the outside world. Of course, the end goal is to prevent the individual from reoffending, and this helping hand might well be the right tool to do it.
Individuals need help to quickly find and access the appropriate services and to make new positive connections with the community. The officers undertake various tasks, from accompanying individuals to appointments to simply being the voice at the end of the phone that offers assistance and guidance. They are known to the individual and, more important, they are trusted.
On visiting HMP Greenock, Annabel was impressed with the ethos behind the project; the can-do attitude of the staff; the commitment to look at a prisoner as an individual; and the officers’ desire to see the potential in an individual and not just view them as someone who is no longer the prison’s responsibility once they are released. On my own account, I repeat the comment that I made in a previous debate that it is also the responsibility of employers across Scotland to recognise that they have to give some opportunity and show some understanding if prisoners are to be properly rehabilitated and brought back into society.
Annabel understands that HMP Low Moss is trialling a similar scheme, with a dedicated throughcare worker and care plan for every short-term prisoner. We know that throughcare projects work. Moving on Renfrewshire, a mentoring scheme that is managed by Action for Children and which works with young offenders at Polmont, found that 74 per cent of those working with the scheme had not returned to custody within two years, compared to a figure of only 50 per cent among young offenders who were not on the programme.
Such projects are important because, although reconviction rates are falling, they remain far too high. Nearly 45 per cent of offenders who are released from prison reoffend within a year. Although that has fallen from a high of 50 per cent in 2003-04, it still compares poorly with the reconviction rates among those who receive other sentences. In 2012, an Audit Scotland report on reducing reoffending found that more than a fifth of offenders who were convicted in 2010-11 had ten or more previous convictions.
We simply cannot afford to do nothing about that. The Scottish Government estimates that the total economic and social cost of reoffending is about £3 billion annually. Although the Government spends about £128 million a year on reducing reoffending, rates remain far too high, and we continue to spend more than £250 million punishing the same offenders time and again.
The United Kingdom Government is pushing throughcare as a priority, and provision of throughcare is arguably wider south of the border. The Secretary of State for Justice there, Chris Grayling, is leading a rehabilitation revolution that will include a roll-out of prisoner mentoring and throughcare schemes. In England and Wales, statutory supervision and rehabilitation will be extended to those who are sentenced to less than 12 months, and a nationwide through-the-prison-gate resettlement service will be established, meaning that most offenders will be given continuous support, from custody into their community, by one provider.
The key difference between that and the approach in Scotland is that Chris Grayling is exploring the use of payment by results so that the public, voluntary and private sectors can all compete for funding and will be rewarded if they achieve real reductions in reoffending. The use of public-social partnerships at HMP Low Moss will open reoffending projects to the third sector, but if results can be achieved by the private sector that should not be ruled out.
More needs to be done on reducing reoffending in Scotland. Projects such as the throughcare support project at HMP Greenock are certainly a step in the right direction and I commend the staff there for their excellent work in tackling reoffending. I hope that best practice from the pilot can be shared and adopted across the prison estate.
17:11
I apologise for my hoarseness, Presiding Officer—I will try to keep going.
The motion at the heart of the debate is similar to that for the members’ business debate on reducing reoffending that I held in May last year. I thank Baroness Goldie—and Jackson Carlaw, who stepped in so ably—for allowing us once again the opportunity to discuss reoffending. The issue must be kept alive and debated if we are to achieve the significant reduction in reoffending that we all want.
The throughcare support project is a welcome initiative, as effective and well-established throughcare is an essential tool in tackling reoffending. However, we know that, too often, there are major cracks in the system, through which prisoners fall upon release. Throughcare can, if not properly thought out and—crucially—if not joined up with other services, go only part of the way towards repairing the damage caused by imprisonment to the individual, their family and the community to which they return.
As I have stated clearly many times, throughcare should start as soon as the offender is sentenced. Work with the offender and their family can be effective and worth while in tackling reoffending, as research continues to show. Not only can we take steps to break the cycle of reoffending; by re-establishing bonds between the prisoner and their loved ones, we can also support the offenders’ children, who are more likely than their peers to enter the criminal justice system later in their lives.
Prisoners can be placed back in the community successfully only when the stigma is tackled and they can go out and look for employment. It is absurd that when the state has a section of its population under direct supervision, it struggles to properly re-educate, rehabilitate and reskill them. There are many opinions on what meaningful activity is. I believe that Colin McConnell of the Scottish Prison Service will strive to get it right and will provide activity that truly makes a difference.
Prison is the severest form of punishment that our courts have at their disposal, yet it is also the most destructive. Earlier this week, there was a timely and important intervention on the issue by Lord Carloway, who called for a change in culture in the way that we view punishment and in how we address sentencing. There were comparisons with Scandinavian countries such as Finland and Sweden, which have halved their prison populations by changing the mindset of people and the culture of the media over decades as well as by introducing creative sentences, such as having non-violent offenders serve a sentence over different periods.
During my members’ business debate last year, there was consensus, which I am sure will occur again today. If members are serious about addressing the issues and advancing their ideas, I encourage them to come along to the cross-party group on families affected by imprisonment on 5 February.
Thank you, and well done.
17:15
I congratulate Annabel Goldie on securing the debate and Jackson Carlaw on his speech. I wish Annabel Goldie well in her recovery.
Towards the end of 2013, I went to HMP Greenock and throughcare support was one of the issues discussed. I was greatly interested by the project as the revolving-door syndrome has blighted the Scottish criminal justice system for far too long and action is required to break that cycle. I also know that no one-size-fits-all strategy will suit everyone. However, for any system to be successful, a number of factors must be in existence. One such factor is a prison estate in which overcrowding is at a minimum or non-existent. Locking prisoners in their cells for 23 hours a day is no good to them, the prison officers or society. I offer my thanks to the Scottish Government and the Scottish Prison Service for improving the prison estate, which has aided this particular project.
I am aware that an evaluation event on the throughcare support project took place today. I was contacted after that meeting by an individual who had informed folk that they would be in touch with me. As part of the discussion, we talked about what one issue—what part of the system that needs to be improved—they would raise in this debate. The person suggested housing. Part of their email said:
“We need to examine ways in which the process can be finely tuned to better meet the needs of returning citizens. This would involve better planning, resources being made available and a move away from the attitude that returning citizens do not deserve or need the same access to housing as others within the community.”
That was a very important point.
Jackson Carlaw rightly highlighted the project details, so I will not repeat what he said. However, I will highlight a few brief points. First, I commend all the staff who are involved in the project. They appreciate the necessity of intervention to aid people’s journeys, so that they do not return to prison. Secondly, the project initiation document is detailed enough while retaining flexibility to aid prisoners. The project is in its infancy, so regular scrutiny and evaluation of its success is critical to its long-term viability and in delivering for prisoners and society. Thirdly, in order for any multi-agency project to be successful, the delivery of the plans needs to be robust, which is certainly the case for the housing issue that I mentioned.
I was informed about an example in which one person who was released—not from HMP Greenock, but from another prison in the estate—had various issues, including mental health issues. The project at that prison did not work for that person. The charity Positive Prison? Positive Futures stepped in to assist and it has ensured that that individual has remained out of the criminal justice system and prison.
I whole-heartedly welcome the throughcare projects across the prison estate, particularly in HMP Greenock. Once again, I congratulate Annabel Goldie and Jackson Carlaw on the debate and I thank all those who are delivering for the project. We must always strive to deliver the best service that we can. I am sure that the initiative at HMP Greenock will continue to aid more prisoners and our society.
17:19
In case Annabel Goldie is watching, I personally thank her for securing the debate and allowing us to share the fantastic and worthwhile good practice that is happening in HMP Greenock. I genuinely wish her a speedy recovery and I hope to see her very soon in the chamber.
Over time, I have had the opportunity to visit many prisons around the world in places such as Pakistan, India, Iran, Iraq and Kurdistan, and I would never wish it on anyone to be a prisoner in any of those prisons. Gone are the days when people in prison were treated as less than human and gone are the days when we expected our prisoners to live on bread and water.
Experience in our country has shown us that if we take our prisoners seriously and treat them as human beings, there is half a chance that they will not reoffend when they come out. That is important. It is also important that we allow people to readjust to family life, because prisoners often have wives and children, and they all need one another. For a family unit to be successful, it is necessary for people to be supported through what is a difficult time. Sometimes, people go to prison who are in extremely difficult circumstances and it takes a lot of support and wisdom to help them to get back on the straight and narrow. The throughcare support that is provided at Greenock prison is an exceptional example of that, which I think that we can export, not only to other prisons but internationally. It offers an opportunity for people to learn about a worthwhile practice.
Over the years, there has been a lot of debate about whether prisoners should be treated as less than human and with unkindness because they are in prison to be punished, but there has always been the argument that prisoners are human beings. If they have erred or made a mistake, they should be given the chance to rekindle their lives, to readjust and to become valuable citizens. I am of the same mind—people should always have an opportunity to better themselves. When prisoners are released from prison, it is important for them to be able to readjust to society. Whether they are part of a family is not important; what is important is that they realise that they are human beings whom we care for and who are valued members of our society.
Time and again, I see projects such as the throughcare project at Greenock prison enriching people’s lives. In enriching those lives, we are enriching our communities. If anyone who has been affected in that way receives such support, it means that society does not have to bear the whole burden and that people can recover sooner rather than later, which is extremely important. A guilt factor sometimes comes into play, whereby people can be hesitant about admitting to the fact that they have had difficulties.
Jackson Carlaw made a very good speech. I am sure that Annabel Goldie would be proud of him for delivering the speech that he did on her behalf. You have done a good job, sir—thank you very much.
On a serious note, supporting our prisoners is like supporting our school kids. It is essential that we support our people when they are at their most vulnerable.
17:23
I am delighted to participate in tonight’s members’ business debate on the throughcare support project at HMP Greenock. I thank Jackson Carlaw for stepping up to the plate and enabling the debate to go ahead, and I wish Annabel Goldie a speedy recovery.
As members will be aware, I have a professional interest and experience in youth and adult offender education. In my position in social work in Glasgow, I witnessed the vital role that education can and does play in assisting offenders to rehabilitate themselves in their local community and in providing them with a means to gain meaningful employment after release.
I want to focus on two things: the pilot throughcare support project in HMP Greenock and some of the comments that have been attributed to Lord Carloway.
Turning first to the throughcare project, it is plain that the figures speak for themselves. The Scottish Prison Service has invested some £70,000 in taking forward the initiative. Those are moneys well spent, particularly when one considers that reoffending costs the Scottish economy £3 billion per year. Given that in 2009-10 more than 47,000 Scots were convicted of a criminal offence; that 30 per cent of those individuals were reconvicted within a year; and that one in five offenders in Scotland has 10 or more previous convictions, we need the kind of initiatives that are promoted within HMP Greenock, with their strong emphasis on training and education. I understand that the scheme’s benefits are secured by the team of throughcare support officers to whom Jackson Carlaw referred, who assist offenders leaving custody in accessing services such as housing, benefits and addiction support. That approach, along with interagency working in communities, can provide both pre-release and post-release support to not just prisoners but their families and the wider community.
In recent days, Lord Carloway, the Lord Justice Clerk, has suggested that Scotland’s prison population is too high and that the wrong people are too often placed behind bars. He has also argued that prison sentencing should shift from a culture of retribution to one that takes greater account of the impact on inmates and wider society and stated that agencies should look at models in Scandinavia where prison populations have been significantly reduced. Last year, Sweden, which is known for its emphasis on rehabilitation and liberal approaches to sentencing, announced plans to close four of its prisons because of a significant fall in the prison population. In that country, reoffending is roughly half that of Scotland’s. Perhaps that example provides us with one more reason why it is important for initiatives such as HMP Greenock’s throughcare project to be undertaken and properly evaluated to assess their impact on offenders and rates of offending and reoffending.
Educational initiatives such as the throughcare project are vital as we strive to battle the problem of reoffending, and I look forward with interest to the publication of the evaluation of the project’s first operational year, which I believe is expected in the spring. I am especially interested in understanding more about how the project actually worked in practice and offenders’ opinions about its success. In Scotland, we need a culture shift in our sentencing of offenders to ensure that rehabilitation and restorative justice are prioritised over the futile and counterproductive short sentences that we have become used to. I believe that such projects are the first step in realising that prison should be more than punishment and that they will provide compelling evidence to inform our future approaches to criminal justice.
17:28
This debate has been short but no less important for that, and I am grateful to Annabel Goldie for highlighting the excellent work being done by the throughcare support officers at HMP Greenock and, of course, to Jackson Carlaw for stepping in at the last minute to lead this members’ business debate. Given that Mr Carlaw spoke in the previous debate, he has certainly earned his money today. Nevertheless, I hope that he transmits my best wishes for Annabel Goldie’s speedy recovery.
As Mary Fee has reminded the chamber, we debated this very issue last year, when members welcomed the then £70,000 investment announced by the Scottish Prison Service to pilot this new approach. Eight months on, I am pleased to announce that the investment has increased to £90,000 and that the new approach is making a real difference to the reintegration needs of the 34 offenders who have successfully completed the programme so far.
Of course, it is essential that we evaluate new approaches and gain an understanding of the lessons learned. An interim evaluation of the Greenock pilot has been carried out by the University of Edinburgh, but the report was received only on 8 January and time will be needed to consider and reflect on it. I can say, though, that its overall tenor is positive and that it will be used to inform the pilot’s progress and to influence next steps.
The person-centred approach to rehabilitation and reintegration reflects the Scottish Prison Service’s new vision of
“Helping to build a safer Scotland—Unlocking Potential—Transforming Lives”,
which was launched in November 2013 by the chief executive of the Scottish Prison Service, Colin McConnell. That new vision recognises that the existence of a supportive and trusting relationship between officer and individual can support an individual to stay away from crime and ensure continuity of support between custody and community. Both Jackson Carlaw and Annabel Goldie recognise that.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to reducing reoffending, and the Government is committed to testing approaches that meet the needs of short-term offenders through our reducing reoffending programme. That can be seen in our programme of work with partners to support offenders on liberation from prison.
In April last year, we launched the £10 million reducing reoffending change fund. Like the throughcare support programme at Greenock, the change fund recognises that offenders who are leaving custody very often need support, so the fund has established two national and four specialist mentoring projects across Scotland.
HMP Greenock is also taking part in the wider community reintegration project, which involves a partnership between the Scottish Government, the Scottish Prison Service and the Scottish Court Service. As well as HMP Greenock, the project works with certain short-term prisoners in Cornton Vale, Edinburgh and Perth prisons. It is examining an improved throughcare case management system and trialling enhanced support for the prisoners in both custody and the community. Both approaches are making a difference.
I remind members that I am, of course, the drugs minister. I want to say a little about that specific aspect.
We know that more than two thirds of prisoners admit to drug use before they arrived in prison. To address that, the Scottish Prison Service’s drugs misuse strategy sets out a joint approach that involves improved security measures to prevent illicit drugs from getting into prisons in the first place sitting alongside a person-centred, therapeutic approach to reducing harm and risk, and providing fast and effective treatment and support. Local alcohol and drug partnerships, as strategic leads, are responsible for commissioning appropriate recovery-focused services to ensure continuity of care for individuals between prison and the community. That is another component of the desire to follow a prisoner outside the prison walls and into the community.
A positive example of that approach is the national naloxone programme. In recognition of the increased risk of an illicit drug overdose in the first three months following liberation from custody, we are working with the SPS to deliver the provision of take-home naloxone at the point of release in all Scottish prisons.
Improved linkages between prisons and community agencies will require significant cultural change across public services and society as a whole, and that has to happen now. Jackson Carlaw recognised that, but he went on to extol the virtues of what is happening south of the border. Perhaps I should gently point out to him that, as recently as 9 January, when she was stepping down, Her Majesty’s inspector of probation, Liz Calderbank, said about the situation in England and Wales that
“the same problems remain”
and that
“The current offender management model is not working, and neither will the new rehabilitation programme”.
Therefore, the approach south of the border is not without its critics.
It was for a general reason and to help to embed the change across the wider public sector that the Cabinet Secretary for Justice established a ministerial group on offender reintegration. I and six other ministers sit on that group. Stuart McMillan’s raising the issue of housing need in that client group and Anne McTaggart’s discussing her experience with offender education reminded us of how just wide-ranging the responses have to be.
The group will drive through changes that will enhance the way in which our communities respond to the needs of offenders to boost their chances of succeeding in reintegrating and rehabilitating themselves, and it acknowledges that that requires to be done across a number of portfolios. I am sure that members will agree that that vital work cannot be the sole responsibility of criminal justice services. I think that Jackson Carlaw raised the issue of employers, as well.
The Government will continue to ask everybody in the public and voluntary sectors and wider society to look carefully at what they could do to respond to the wide-ranging needs of offenders. We need to ensure that the right support is available when an individual decides to go straight, repay their debts to society, and make a new and better life for themselves.
Hanzala Malik used an important phrase when he said that we have to treat prisoners “as human beings”. That is important, because some rhetoric suggests that that is often forgotten.
Let me close by again commending the continued work of HMP Greenock in testing the new approach and thanking Annabel Goldie for again bringing the matter to the attention of Parliament.
Meeting closed at 17:35.Previous
Decision Time