Former Lord Advocate warns too many women are being imprisoned

Former Lord Advocate Dame Elish Angiolini QC has said that too many women are being jailed because judges do not believe in community sentences, The Herald reports.

Dame Elish claimed community justice was a “lottery” and said funding was needed to cut the number of women being imprisoned.

She pointed to the fact that schemes to reduce reoffending are established on short contracts.

Dame Elish said: “Organisations delivering these services know that funding is only in place for a few years at a time and that colours their work and makes long-term planning impossible.

“The constant need to pin down funding takes up a huge amount of time and is an unnecessary distraction. It breeds uncertainty and makes it difficult to attract and keep the best people.

“The courts need to know these services are being properly delivered from year to year and the best services, the best practice, need to be identified, encouraged and permanently funded.

“At the moment, the provision of these services is short-term and fragmented. It is a lottery.”

The former Lord Advocate pointed to services likes Shine, operated by Sacro, which support women after their release from prison.

Her comments come five years after a commission examining how the justice system treats women called for extensive reform.

Dame Elish said that while many of the recommendation had been realised, there was still work to be done.

She said: “We are still sending too many women to prison for no good reason or effect.

“We can do more both to keep our citizens safer and help these women build useful, valuable lives.”