A key element of independence is learning best practices from around the world (and learning from mistakes too), so it’s worth taking a look at the current situation surrounding prisoners and rehabilitation in different countries.
I’ve opted for a range of different administrative arrangements including control by the central government, devolved/federal state control, shared responsibilities and others.
I’ll start with a summary of how things are in Wales to set a marker for comparison.
For clarity, the “reoffending rate” generally means the proportion of convicted criminals (custodial and non-custodial) who are re-convicted within 6 months to 3 years of release/conviction – though some nations may count this differently.
The most appropriate comparisons in this exercise are perhaps Scotland and Ireland – which have been covered in a bit more detail than the others.
The criminal justice system, including prisons, is devolved to Scotland, except immigration detention (as immigration and asylum are reserved matters for the UK Government).
The overall imprisonment rate is similar to Wales, but there are some differences in administration – such as there being three prisoner categories rather than four. Another element that’s perhaps controversial is the practice of mixed-gender prisons – though the Scottish Government is seeking to house women offenders in smaller units closer to families.
As in Wales, there have been concerns over the last few years about overcrowding in Scottish prisons and safety concerns associated with it – such as an increase in attacks on prison officers. Another element similar to Wales is the involvement of the private sector – two prisons are run privately and G4S runs prisoner escort services in Scotland.
However, the prison estate in Scotland has undergone a fairly extensive redevelopment programme since devolution. Overall, you could argue that Scotland has far more modern prison facilities than Wales (Cardiff and Swansea prisons seem almost medieval in comparison).
Scotland has also adopted a model of “community-facing prisons” for some of their newer facilities, where prisons are almost indistinguishable from schools and colleges from the outside – drawing influence from the Nordic countries (more on this later). The aim is to create an environment that’s as normal as possible to aid rehabilitation and house more prisoners closer to home; Welsh prisoners can potentially be sent anywhere in England and Wales.
There are proposals by the Scottish Government to change early release or parole to trigger after a third of a sentence has been served, as well as an increase in the use of community sentencing – but this has been criticised as being a “soft touch”.
The Scottish Prison Service’s budget in 2021-22 was around £460million, with around £73million of that being capital funding.
For comparison, spending on prisons in Wales – according to the UK Government (xls) – was around £196million in 2019-20.
