'Crisis point', yes, but our prisons still need to be humane. Come along to our Drummond Hunter Lecture on Tuesday 25 November, to hear more from Sara Snell (Chief Inspector of Prisons for Scotland). There are still a few tickets left: tinyurl.com/3s6yke4x www.scottishlegal.com/articles/sco...

The Governor of HMP Glenochil correctly stresses the oft forgotten link between our unsustainably high prison population & potentially less safe communities: "overcrowding is hampering efforts to rehabilitate prisoners, & that in turn affects wider society". www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

📢 Our annual Drummond Hunter Lecture couldn't be better timed: Sara Snell @hmips Chief Inspector will be discussing how we move 'Towards Humane Prisons' at 6.30pm on Tuesday 25 November @UoELawSchool. Tickets available ➡️ tinyurl.com/3s6yke4x www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

There's no pleasure at all at having predicted this. Just a deep disappointment in acknowledging that we had a choice. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

📢 BIG NEWS! Sara Snell, Chief Inspector of Prisons @hmipscot will be the keynote speaker, talking about 'Towards Humane Prisons' at our annual Drummond Hunter Lecture on 25 November. Tickets here: tinyurl.com/3s6yke4x. Please spread the word!

Allan Marshall died unlawfully in the care of @scottishprisons. Excessive & unnecessary force had been used to restrain him, but crucially (and less reported): the FAI found that prison officers and senior prison staff were not truthful in their evidence. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The human rights of all prisoners must be respected. Despite assurances to the contrary, questions remain as to whether the sentences of OLR prisoners are being managed properly. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

A prison officer's job is far from easy, but as Sheriff Collins stated in the FAI for 20 year old Jack McKenzie at HMP/YOI Polmont, “poor practice must be investigated and sanctioned, not ignored and therefore – apparently – condoned”. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

With an increase of 60% in the last year, these are almost unbelievable findings. We should all be very grateful to the research team for shining a light on something that @scottishprisons.bsky.social doesn't hold accurate data on and must address now. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The waiting lists for rehabilitation programmes pose a serious concern which @HMIPS (and others) continues to highlight. The issue doesn't get a lot of attention which it should.

Inordinately long waiting lists for rehabilitative programmes for OLR prisoners (and others) raise serious human rights issues which @HMIPS highlighted in its thematic review of progression.

Many of the people on OLRS are unable to demonstrate their suitability for release, which can lead to fundamental breaches of their human rights.

Take a listen to our Policy and Public Affairs Adviser, Emma Jardine, talking (from 13:05 onwards) about why the early release of some short term prisoners isn't going to be nearly enough to solve the issue of prison overcrowding. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

In the wake of the FAI into the deaths of Katie Allan and William Lindsay, the Scottish government has just announced 1. The Scottish Prison Service will urgently review its policy on items that can be used as ligatures, and the development of suicide prevention technology will be accelerated.

Thread. I’m not going to post in depth about the excoriating determination of the FAI into the suicides of Katie Allan & William Lindsay. I’ll be writing about it anon & at length. BUT what runs through it is a sense of the perceived disposability of young people the state is supposed to care for

So many things to comment on here, but 5 years after the preventable deaths of Katie and William, the fact that some prison cells are still not safe is inexcusable. Immediate "actioning" rather than just "carefully considering" the recommendations is what is required 💔. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Great opportunity to join our justice team as Community Justice Manager. We are looking for a dynamic manager to lead and be responsible for all aspects of the delivery and development of our Community Justice services: https://buff.ly/3OQMWM4

It took almost 24 hours for our 'tweets' from Twitter/X to be imported to here. Our timeline therefore looks a bit odd, but we're here and that's the main thing!

My @heraldscotland.bsky.social column on the new earlier release legislation: a step in the right direction, but so much more to be done to reverse the damage of sentence inflation, and to make meaningful rehabilitation possible. www.heraldscotland.com/politics/vie...

Our annual lecture by @FrancisPakes on 'Small Worlds: What Can We Learn From Iceland's Prisons?' will take place at 6pm on Wed 22 May at @UniStrathclyde. It's not a secret. You can tell everyone about it!!! Tickets: tinyurl.com/3mrysffc

How similar are Iceland & Scotland when it comes to prisons? @FrancisPakes knows. Come along to our 2024 Annual Lecture, 'Small Worlds: What Can We Learn From Iceland's Prisons?' on Wed 22 May at @UniStrathclyde and he can tell you all about it. Tickets: tinyurl.com/3mrysffc

🤔Want to know more? Come along to our 2024 Annual Lecture, 'Small Worlds: What Can We Learn From Iceland's Prisons?' with @FrancisPakes on Wed 22 May at @UniStrathclyde. Tickets: tinyurl.com/3mrysffc

Wise words from (amongst others) two of our Executive Committee members @DavidMackie15 & @karynmccluskey. Watch until the end when @DavidMackie15 tells the story of someone previously in & out of court who made his (& his family's) dreams come true. bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod…

🚨📣 Diaries out folks!! This is @FrancisPakes who's giving our 2024 Annual Lecture on 'Small Worlds: What Can We Learn From Iceland's Prisons?' (Spoiler alert: it's a lot.) Wed. 22 May 6pm, Collins Building, Strathclyde University. Tickets available at: tinyurl.com/3mrysffc

Our increasing total @scottishprisons population is of huge concern, but looking at this graph of the women's population from July '22 - July '23, can anyone tell me if this looks like the correct time to close services in the community like @turningpointsco 218 project? Anyone?

The openness of ⁦@scottishprisons⁩ in terms of laying bare the reality of the situation is unusual & to be commended here. It *is* time for them to say ‘no more’. It’s not scaremongering. It’s what we’ve been saying for years. bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotla…

“William Brown had never been convicted of a crime and should never have been in prison.” The descriptions of the boy he was & man he could have been are heartbreaking. The fact that a vulnerable 16 year old was ever sent to prison should shame us all. bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotla…

There are some sensible suggestions here, but as we know, the biggest problem of all is the overly high prison population. bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…

“The deaths of Katie & William really should shame us all because they are a damning indictment of a society that imprisons children & young people in places that are incapable of keeping them safe”. It’s hard, but essential listening. bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0…

We're looking for a proactive volunteer to take on fundraising for us. We care hugely about improving the criminal justice system, but we're small & we're busy & having exhausted the traditional grant routes, we need an experienced helping hand. Interested? Please DM us &/or RT.

Mike Nellis asks key questions re the 218 service: No-one disputes the challenging financial climate for both central & local government, but in what way is it justifiable to dispense so peremptorily with the services of a centre of excellence in this way? thenational.scot/community/2394…

Closing this service does not fit with the much heralded women's strategy which led to the CCUs. Any short term savings to local authority's budgets will simply move costs to @scottishprisons where many of the women @turningpointsco supported will end up. glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/scottish-…

'Scotland's Choice' the 2008 report of the Scottish Prisons Commission set out two possible futures. We watch with increasing concern as our prison population edges closer to 8,000. On 27 October 2023 it stood at 7,968. That is the choice we made. It was the wrong one.

Further warnings from @PG_Prisons to @SP_Justice : "If we continue this path, we are at best providing humane containment ... with many prisons already operating restricted regimes, resulting in the provision of little or no positive rehabilitative work". scottishlegal.com/articles/msps-…

🚨📽️There's still time (just) to get your tickets to our 50th Anniversary of the Barlinnie Special Unit Film Screening Event, tomorrow: Wednesday 11 October. We'll be talking about what prisons can & can't do & creativity behind bars 🖌️🎨📚 Book here ➡️ tinyurl.com/yyyk53z4

🚨 Calling all modern studies students!! 🚨 To mark the 50th anniversary of the Barlinnie Special Unit we're hosting a special film screening of 'Silent Scream' & discussing the nature of crime & punishment. 5pm Wednesday 11 October. BOOK HERE ➡️ tinyurl.com/yyyk53z4

📣📷 Was the Barlinnie Special Unit too special? What's changed since then? Did it influence the CCUs? What's its legacy? We'll be discussing at our special film screening event of 'Silent Scream'. 5pm Wednesday 11 October in Edinburgh. BOOK HERE ➡️ tinyurl.com/5649waf2

📣🚨To mark the 50th anniversary of the Barlinnie Special Unit we're hosting a special film screening of 'Silent Scream'. We'll be joined by its screenwriter Bill Beech & Sara Trevelyan who worked there extensively. 5pm Wednesday 11 October. BOOK HERE: ➡️ tinyurl.com/5n6jdaeb

This is not just a local authority budget decision. TP 218 provides an alternative to custody for women in the justice system. Without it there's a real risk of more women ending up in prison at much greater cost to the public purse & the women's families. news.stv.tv/west-central/l…

This is a serious issue, not just for court business, but also for prisoners' community access to prepare them for release and for important healthcare appointments. news.stv.tv/politics/scott…

Again, we know most, if not all, of what's being said here already, but we need to keep saying it, because if we don't, we'll keep hanging our hopes on HMP Glasgow. As @scottishprisons @Liam4Orkney & others say: change is needed right now, not in 2027. heraldscotland.com/politics/23704…

This has been so long in coming that it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. The fact that the Governor himself is calling it out is, however, significant (and brave). bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotla…

Here are the remand figures by index offence for April 2023. There will be explanations for some of them, but you'll notice that they include shoplifting; vandalism; theft; & threatening & abusive behaviour. Is prison really the answer here??

This is a hugely important FAI. Following the findings of the 'Still/Nothing to See Here' reports on prison deaths and FAIs, the rising numbers of deaths in custody cannot, and should not, be ignored. bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotla…

"The Gov. considers that there is not at present sufficient data available to assess the impact of any potential change to the sentence threshold", whilst also saying it "does not plan to revisit the 12-month threshold for prisoner voting". #Paradoxical tinyurl.com/2wc3n3sz

“It’s frustrating & disappointing that more women haven’t been able to access these, potentially transformative, facilities ... we need to keep asking why there are so few women being accommodated there & whether the criteria for access to them is correct". theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/m…

HMP Addiewell's stated aim is "to change lives for the better". When a prison isn't safe for prisoners or staff, it can't do this. But what it can (and does) do is change lives for the worse. A lot worse. news.stv.tv/east-central/s…