Unlocking the Prisons Crisis: Does Scotland hold the Key for England and Wales?

Wednesday 30th January 2019

Strathclyde Centre for Law, Crime & Justice, Strathclyde Law School

To Book Your Place: https://prisonscrisis.eventbrite.co.uk

In the Chair: Sheriff Alistair Duff (Director of the Judicial Institute, Scotland)

Speakers: Jessica Gallagher and Gavin Dingwall (De Montfort University, England)

Responding: Wendy Sinclair-Gieben (HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, Scotland)

English prisons are in crisis. The consequences of savage staff cuts since 2010 are chilling: dramatic rises in assaults on prisoners and staff and, most alarmingly, the number of prisoners committing suicide. Lamentable meaningful activity is taking place to help prepare prisoners for release. Reconviction rates are high and increasing.

Despite the fact that these failings have been well-documented, there is little prospect of change without radical thinking. Increasingly, attention is turning to changes in Scotland where policy appears to be diverging from its larger neighbour south of the border.

  • What can England and Wales learn from Scottish prisons and penal policy?
  • Is Scottish prisons and penal policy changing in the right ways?
  • What should be done?

Starting with a critique of the physical conditions in the prison estate and the consequences of inadequate staffing, Jessica Gallagher and Gavin Dingwall will assess the impact of these factors on prisoner well-being.

Urgent reform is needed. But what form should this take?

One idea worthy of consideration is Scotland’s recent sentencing reform limiting the imposition of short custodial sentences.

Would a similar restriction alleviate the crisis in England and Wales? Would this proposal be viable politically? If not, why has a distinct political climate developed north of the border?

Jessica Gallagher is a Part-Time Lecturer and Gavin Dingwall is Professor of Criminal Justice Policy at De Montfort University where they teach and research Penology. 

Prof Gavin Gingwall has written extensively on many aspects of Criminal Justice, as well as in Criminal Law, Criminology, Evidence and Procedure. His work includes books on Alcohol and Crime, Diversion in the criminal justice process and Rural Crime. His latest book, (with Tim Hillier), is entitled Blamestorming, Blamemongers and Scapegoats: Allocating Blame in the Criminal Justice Process (Policy, 2016). The book was the subject of a discussion on BBC Radio 4's Thinking Allowed series broadcast in June 2016. He is currently working on three major projects: 'truth' and criminal justice; sentencing provisions for 'dangerous' offenders, with a particular emphasis on Imprisonment for Public Protection; and imprisoning children aged between 10 and 17.  

Wendy Sinclair-Gieben was appointed Her majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons for Scotland in July 2018.  She is responsible for the inspection of the 15 prisons in Scotland, to examine the treatment of prisoners in custody and the conditions in prisons and courts.  Wendy’s career has been built on a background in Criminology, Education and Healthcare management. Her career has spanned teaching, working in the criminal justice sector, immigration detention and healthcare management, in Australia, the Northern Territories of Canada and the United Kingdom.  In 1998 she transferred to working in prisons and throughout her prison career in both the UK and Australia prison services; she has won awards and recognition for her work in rehabilitation and reintegration; in particular the prestigious Lord Justice Woolf award for Resettlement in the UK and the Infrastructure Partnerships Australia award for Operator and Service Provider Excellence in Perth, Australia. She was recognised by the IPA as an’ important pathfinder in how governments can drive much better public services, at much better value for money.

 

Sheriff Alistair Duff is Director of the Judicial Institute for Scotland.   He has worked as a public prosecutor.  From 1981 - 2004 he was in private practice in Edinburgh as a solicitor specializing in criminal defence. In 1993 he was instructed to represent the two Libyan nationals accused of the destruction of PanAm Flight 103 over Lockerbie and the murder of 270 persons in the plane and on the ground. Subsequently between 1999 and 2002 he represented Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi during the trial and appeal process in the Netherlands.  He qualified as a solicitor advocate with criminal rights of audience in 1993 and conducted cases before the High Court of Judiciary.  He was appointed as a resident sheriff in the sheriff court at Dundee in 2004 and appointed Deputy Director of the Judicial Institute for Scotland in 2011 and its Director in 2014. He has served on numerous bodies including: the Law Society Council, the Council of the Society of Solicitors in the Supreme Courts, the McInnes Committee on Summary Justice Reform, and McLeish Prisons Commission.

1.5 hours CPD

To Book Your Place: https://prisonscrisis.eventbrite.co.uk