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  4. Prisoner numbers stable, but remand total up: new stats

Prisoner numbers stable, but remand total up: new stats

16th November 2022 | criminal law | Criminal legal aid

Scotland's prison population remained broadly stable in 2021-22 compared with the previous year, partly due to Covid related public health measures, but the balance between the sentenced and remand populations continued to shift, according to official statistics published today.

Although overall prison population levels rose by just 1% on 2020-21 figures, remaining stable at just over 7,500 in 2021-22, the average daily remand population increased by around 14% from 1,634 in 2020-21 to 1,862, while the average daily sentenced population was down 1% from 5,658 to 5,597. As a result  the proportion of the prison population held on remand rose to around 25%, the highest on record.

Around 60% of the average daily remand population in 2021-22 were accused of index group 1 "Violence" and 2 "Sexual crimes" offences. A further 21% were accused of group 5 "Crimes against society" offences.

Time spent on remand also continued to increase: although the median duration for those departing custody from remand remained at 22 days, in 2020-21 90% of remand departures had occurred with 109 days, but in 2021-22 this had risen to 139 days. This continues an observed sharp increase from 2017-18, when 90% of remand departures occurred within 63 days.

The median number of days to transition to the sentenced population also continued to rise, standing at 57 in 2021-22, compared to 55 in 2020-21 and 36 in 2019-20. In 2019-20 and 2020-21, 90% of transitions occurred within 145 days and 175 days respectively. In 2021-22 this had risen such that 90% of transitions occurred within 262 days.

The number of prisoners sentenced for offences of violence, sexual crimes and anti-social offences (including threatening and abusive behaviour) continued to rise, while populations with other types of offences fell slightly or remained stable. The proportion serving a sentence of less than four years remained below pre-pandemic levels (45% in 2021-22 compared to 53% in 2019-20).

Numbers of women in prison continued to fall, down 5% from 298 in 2020-21 to 282, driven by a 7% reduction in the sentenced population, though the number of women on remand remained stable, bringing those on remand to 30% of the total number of women in prison. The population of young people (under 21) in custody also continued to fall overall, from 215 in 2020-21 to 188 in 2021-22, again due to a 19% reduction in the sentenced population: the proportion of young people on remand rose to 48% of young people in prison.

Access the full publication here.

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