Corntonvale Prison Improvements Needed

12.00.00am GMT Mon 15th Feb 2010

A call for action to improve arrangements at Corntonvale Prison, Scotland's main prison for female offenders, has come from Glasgow Liberal Democrat MSP Robert Brown. Mr. Brown was speaking during a debate in the Scottish Parliament on a report on Corntonvale by the Parliament's Equal Opportunities Committee.

Robert Brown called for action to relieve the pressure of overcrowding at Corntonvale, to improve mental health services and to support family links.

Robert Brown said:

"Corntonvale is the Women's prison for the whole of Scotland, but inevitably most of them come from Glasgow and the Central Belt. Many women are in Corntonvale as much for their own protection as that of the public. Many have enormously sad lives, characterised by drug or alcohol addiction and horrendous abuse either in childhood or in adulthood or both. Mental health problems are said to be a factor in no less than 80% of cases."

"And it cries out for notice that around half of the children of female prisoners are themselves imprisoned as adults. What a harvest we reap from this historic failure to get things right!"

"The recent Report by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons described Corntonvale as being "in a state of crisis". The issues identified were growing prisoner numbers, overcrowding, long toilet waits, rising incidents of self harm, inadequate opportunities for work and education, long periods of being locked up in cells and unacceptable living conditions. The message from the Inspectorate and from the Committee Report is a fairly bleak and uncomfortable one. "

"When I visited Corntonvale, what stuck in my mind was the Governor telling me that the main challenge was to try to undo the harm done to the women by being locked up in the first place, not least the severance from families and children."

There is little public advantage -and huge cost - in imprisoning women for short terms. But there must be robust and effective community sentences capable of engaging with the women and changing their negative life situations. Sheriffs and the public must have confidence in the alternatives to prison."

"Mental health problems need to be better identified and assessed - and are better dealt with outside custody if at all possible. Mental health care must continue in an effective and linked way when women are released."

"The Scottish Government must have a more urgent response to these challenges."

End.