NCJ Number
117746
Journal
Howard Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 28 Issue: 2 Dated: (May 1989) Pages: 81-90
Date Published
1989
Length
10 pages
Annotation
Problems confronting the penal system in Scotland, solutions adopted, and policies being developed were described in an address by the Rt. Hon. Malcolm Rifkind, Secretary of State for Scotland, before the John Howard League.
Abstract
Steps have been taken to overhaul and update management practices and training within the Scottish prison service, to refurbish and modernize the prison estate, and to improve regimes and opportunities for inmates. Reforms in package pay and management and a new management structure have been introduced, and new prison training strategies have been incorporated. Initiatives relating to inmates include improvement in the parity of regimes for similar types of inmates in similar establishments, sentence planning, and preparing inmates for release into the community. Reparations for offenses, rather than imprisonment, are being investigated for fine defaulters, prisoners on remand, and those subject to custodial sentence. Deferred sentences, sentences designed to pay for the cost of repairing damage or attendance for treatment for a medical condition, are being examined more closely as alternatives to institutionalization.