Scottish Prison Service Annual Review Contents

74 Pages·2005·2.85 MB·English

by  Any Authorised User

Scottish Prison Service

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS

FOR 2000-01

Presented to the Scottish Parliament in
pursuance of the Prisons (Scotland) Act 1989

Laid before the Scottish Parliament by the
Scottish Ministers December 2001

SE/2001/280

CONTENTS
Previous Reports
Vision and Mission Statement
Prison Board
Chief Executive’s Foreword
Performance against Key Targets
Honours and Commendations
Custody and Order
Care and Opportunity
Human Resources
Estates
Finance
Appendices
1. Location of establishments
2. Description of establishments
3. Prisoner numbers by establishment
4. Average daily prisoner population
5. Total number of receptions to establishments
6. Escapes and absconds from custody

7. Prison discipline: offences and punishments
8. Prison industries
9. Prisoners’ complaints
10. Staff numbers and recruitment
11. Staff training
12. Parliamentary accountability
13. Accounts
PREVIOUS REPORTS

1970 Cmnd 4809
1971 Cmnd 4999
1972 Cmnd 5349
1973 Cmnd 5735
1974 Cmnd 6350
1975 Cmnd 6546
1976 Cmnd 7162
1977 Cmnd 7391
1978 Cmnd 7749
1979 Cmnd 8037
1980 Cmnd 8421
1981 Cmnd 8618
1982 Cmnd 8980
1983 Cmnd 9400
1984 Cmnd 9670
1985 Cm 1
1986 Cm 223
1987 Cm 551
1988 – Cm 998
1989 Cm 1499
1989 – Cm 1663
1990 Cm 2143
1990 – Cm 2323
1991 HC 515
1991 – HC 593
1992 HC 508
1992 – HC 18
1993 HC 808
1993 – HC 638
1994 HC 619 -
1994 – SE/2000/1
1995
1995 –
1996
1996 –
1997
1997 –
1998
1998 –
1999
1999 –
2000
SPS VISION

CORRECTIONAL EXCELLENCE
We will be recognised as the leader in prisons’ correctional
work which helps reduce recidivism and thereby offers value
for money for the taxpayer.

MISSION
We will maintain secure custody and good order; and we will
care for prisoners with humanity and provide them with
appropriate opportunities.

ACTION
We will aim to ensure that:

! Scotland’s prisons can fairly be viewed as the leaders in
correctional services, delivering effective prisoner
opportunities which help reduce recidivism;

! the prison estate is fit for the 21st century;

! Scotland’s prisons are acknowledged as providing the
highest standards of service delivery across their full
range of activities;

! Scottish prisons’ staff will be respected by the nation for
their professionalism, their wide range of skills and the
difficult job they do on behalf of society; and

! in the necessary pursuit of demonstrating value for
money to the taxpayer, public sector costs will be
competitive with those of alternative providers.

MISSION STATEMENT

The Mission of the Scottish Prison Service is:

! to keep in custody those committed by the courts;
! to maintain good order in each prison;

! to care for prisoners with humanity; and

! to provide prisoners with a range of opportunities to
exercise personal responsibility and to prepare for
release.
THE SCOTTISH PRISON
SERVICE BOARD

Tony Cameron
(Chief Executive)

Christine Carlin Mike Duffy John Durno

(Director, Estates Review) (Operations Director, (Director of Custody until
South and West) October 2000 then Director of
Strategy & Business Performance)

Jinny Hutchison Willie Pretswell Peter Russell
(Director of Strategy and (Director of Finance and (Director of
Corporate Affairs until August 2000) Business Systems) Human Resources)

Pete Withers
Malcolm Wishart Alasdair MacIntyre
(Operations Director,
(Non-Executive Director) (Non–Executive Director)
North and East)
FOREWORD
I began my foreword last year by referring to the need for continuous improvement
within the Scottish Prison Service. I am happy to say that that process of improvement
has continued during 2000-2001 and I am confident that with the agreement and
implementation of the new Staff Attendance System in 2001-02 we will make
considerable progress towards becoming more competitive.
Last year saw the launch of a new Vision for the Prison Service focusing on the key
themes of “Protecting the Public” and “Reducing Reoffending”. This new Vision
concentrates on the concept of correctional excellence and the SPS’s desire to be
recognised as the leader in prisons’ correctional work, helping to reduce recidivism
and thereby offering better value for money for the taxpayer.
The delivery of this Vision is predicated on a number of other actions. We must
ensure that the prison estate is fit for the 21st century. We must ensure that Scotland’s
prisons are acknowledged as providing high standards of service delivery across all of
our activities. Our prison staff should be respected by the nation for their
professionalism and their skills. We must continue with our determination to ensure
value for money for the taxpayer and for the costs of the public sector provision to be
competitive with those of alternative service providers.
The Estates Review continued during the year and at the time of writing nears
completion. Figures produced by the Scottish Prison Service in the Review are being
independently audited prior to a programme of public consultation. The resolution of
issues surrounding the prison estate will pave the way for us to develop our vision for
the future.
As is reflected in this Report the performance of the Scottish Prison Service against a
series of increasingly challenging targets continues to show improvement. However
the key challenge for the Prison Service in the years ahead is to fulfil its role by
contributing to the Executive’s commitment of a safer Scotland.
This has been reflected in the change of key performance indicators given by
Ministers to the Scottish Prison Service which are more reflective of the correctional
nature of the work undertaken by the Prison Service.
Another important initiative of last year was the re-launch and revision of the SPS’s
race relations policy. This included the appointment of a Race Relations Manager
within each establishment and improved race relations training and racial awareness
training for all staff. We have also introduced a racial incident reporting system to
underline our commitment to effective race relations.
I regret to report that in August 2000 some of our staff saw fit to take unlawful
industrial action. This did little to enhance the reputation of the Scottish Prison
Service and was counter-productive to our goal of enhancing the image of our staff in
the public mind.
The Scottish Executive’s 21st Century Government Action Plan presents a formidable
challenge to the SPS as one of its targets is that -“Who provides public services is not
important: what matters is that they should be delivered by the best supplier at the
best price”. We therefore face the challenge of competition and have a commitment to
reduce the gap between the costs of SPS and those of our competitors. We are not
concerned only with providing value for money but also with correctional excellence.
Over the next few years I believe that with this commitment to best value and the
delivery of quality service the SPS can secure its place as service provider of choice.
This will create even greater challenges for us. In our intervention and work with
prisoners we must not only be effective in changing behaviour, we also have to be
able to evidence this by means of reduced rates of reoffending.
Both the Executive and the Scottish public look to prisons to play an active role in
making our society a safer place. The Executive have made an extra £50 million
available to us over the next 3 years to help in the modernisation of the estate. In turn
we have to show that we are committed to quality, cost effectiveness and efficiency.

T CAMERON
Chief Executive
PERFORMANCE AGAINST KEY TARGETS
As an Executive Agency of the Scottish Executive, the Scottish Prison Service is set
key targets annually by the Justice Minister. The targets cover the four arms of the
SPS Mission Statement (custody, good order, care and opportunities) as well as cost
per prisoner place.
Setting targets for a prison service is difficult. The public rightly expect prisoners to
be kept in secure custody, but maintaining good order in prisons and preparing
prisoners for reintegration into society depend on balancing security requirements
with the provision of a range of measures to help prisoners to address their offending
behaviour and prepare for release. For example, security so high as to eliminate any
possibility of an escape - if such were attainable - would conflict with the need to
deliver programmes aimed at reducing re-offending and would severely restrict the
need for prisoners to have access to purposeful activity of various kinds. The tightest
security and supervision is therefore focused on those prisoners who are assessed as
being of greatest danger to the public, with lesser security and supervision for
prisoners who pose little or no threat to public safety.
Average prisoner numbers declined slightly for the second year running from the all
time peak of 1997-98, but the trend at the end of the year was again upward.
So far as SPS performance in 2000-01 was concerned, it was a good year. The
custody targets were fully met, and indeed performance was significantly better than
the targets. The significant fall in the number of serious assaults by prisoners on other
prisoners (69) bettered the target of 91 as well as being the lowest for 5 years.
Gratifyingly the target for serious assaults on staff (14) was met. The significant
shortfall in delivery of prisoner programmes was disappointing, as was the fact that
we exceeded the target for the number of injuries reportable to the Health and Safety
Executive. The average cost per prisoner place was actually slightly below that of
1999-2000, and substantially below target.
The Service’s performance in previous years has shown a continuing improvement
against a series of progressively more challenging targets. However, those targets did
not fully reflect the full range of SPS’s work nor its contribution to the Executive’s
plan to create a safer Scotland, which includes the rehabilitation of offenders. For
2001-02 the Justice Minister has introduced new targets focusing on the correctional
agenda. The addition to the target for prisoner programmes of a measure for
accreditation moves the focus away from simple numbers of programmes delivered
and towards a continuing improvement in quality. A target for education has also been
introduced, which is a key element in the correctional agenda and SPS will be
required to show progress on a year-to-year basis in this important area. Finally, a
measure of the performance in combating drugs in prisons has been introduced to
support the Scottish Executive’s commitment to addressing the issue of drug abuse in
Scotland. At the same time, the core targets for custody and good order have been
retained and tightened. These are essential to ensure continued protection of the
public, SPS staff and prisoners.
PERFORMANCE AGAINST KEY MINISTERIAL TARGETS
1997-98 1998-99 1999-00 2000-01 2001-02
Number of escapes1
Category A prisoners Target 0 0 0 0 0

Outturn 0 0 0 0 -
Category B prisoners Target 1.7 per 1,000 1.0 per 1,000 0.8 per 1,000 0.7 per 1,000 0.9 per 1,000
prisoners = prisoners = 6 prisoners = 5 prisoners = 4 cat Bs = 3
Outturn 11 2 2 1
1
Category C prisoners Target 2 per 1,000 1.6 per 1,000 1.3 per 1,000 1 per 1,000 2.9 per 1,000
prisoners = prisoners = prisoners = 8 prisoners = 6 cat Cs = 5
Outturn 13 10 3 0
0 0
Number of serious assaults on Target 3 per 1,000 3 per 1,000 2.8 per 1,000 2.7 per 1,000 2.7 per 1,000
staff2 staff = 14 staff = 14 staff = 15 staff = 14 staff = 13
Outturn 18 17 13 14
Number of serious assaults on Target <127 <108 <129 <15 per <10 per 1,000
prisoners2 1,000 = 56
Outturn 108 129 91 = 91
69
x number of prisoners to Target 520 660 850 850 700 (50%)
complete programmes to
address offending behaviour, Outturn 660 797 890 773
y% of which programmes to
be fully accredited 3
Education: number of Target - - - - 250,000
prisoner learning hours4
Outturn -5 -5 -5 225,000
% of available prisoner places Target 70 71 76 76 78
with access to night sanitation
Outturn 70 71 75 76
% of those tested under Target - - - - 85
random MDT procedures to
be clear of in-prison drug use4 Outturn 77 82 85 85
Average annual cost per Target 27,392 27,904 28,761 29,500 32,6006
prisoner place (£s)
Outturn 26,744 26,912 28,375 28,114
Number of injuries reportable Target - - - 124 100
to the Health and Safety
Executive Outturn 124 131 112 136

1. An escape is defined as having taken place when a prisoner breaches a
perimeter security barrier or evades a secure escort. Up until and including
2000-01 the targets for categories B and C were set on the basis of the whole
prisoner population: with effect from 2001-02 these targets relate to each
1,000 of prisoners who are in the relevant security category.
2. A serious assault is defined as when the victim has sustained an injury
resulting in detention in hospital as an in-patient, or any of the following
injuries, whether or not the victim was detained in hospital: fractures,
concussion, internal injuries, crushings, severe cuts or lacerations, severe
bruising, scalds or burns, or severe general shock requiring medical treatment.