Prisons inspector calls for end to sentences less than a year

Prison terms of less than a year should be phased out, as they only lead to more reoffending, the Chief Inspector of Prisons in Scotland has claimed.

Interviewed on BBC Radio Scotland, David Strang, the Chief Inspector, said that taking "the longer view", in order to reduce crime "we should be sending fewer people to prison, not more".

He continued: "The evidence is that if you send more people to prison for short sentences, you're going to drive up reconviction rtates and increase reoffending."

Mr Strang added that more than half of people sent to prison for less than 12 months are reconvicted within a year.

The current legal presumption in Scotland is against sentences of less than three months, and ministers have consulted on whether this should be extended to longer periods of up to a year. Mr Strang favours more use being made of community payback orders instead.

Prison, he said, should be for serious offending which has caused substantial harm or where there is a future threat to potential victims.

Previous sentencing reforms have been controversial, in the face of claims of a "soft touch" justice system, and Conservative justice spokesperson Liam Kerr repeated his party's claim that short term sentences played an important role in the justice system.

• Last week the Prisons Inspectorate published a report on a thematic study of the lived experience of older prisoners in Scotland’s prisons. It concludes that a new strategy for managing this population group is urgently required, and calls among other things for a joint approach between Government and the Prison Service to the location and management of older prisoners, better recognition of their health and social care needs, and support to enable them to maintain positive contact with their families. Click here to view the report.