Justice Analytical Services (JAS) Safer Communities and Justice Statistics Monthly Data Report: June 2023 edition

Prisons

Summary statistics on prisons

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• The prison population has risen from its lowest point at the end of May 2020. Friday population figures published by the Scottish Prison Service, show that the prison population rose from around 7,500 in April 2018 to around 8,300 in November 2019, but fell sharply in the early days of the lockdown in 2020. This was due to a drop in the number of sentenced admissions following the Covid-19 outbreak and the early release of prisoners.
• After a recovery and period of stability between 7,300 and 7,600, the growth in the population since December 2022 has now exceeded levels observed since 2020. This growth is driven by Court activity focussed on clearing the backlog of Solemn business that accumulated over the pandemic-disrupted period.
• The remand population was at its lowest point of 1,114 on 24^th April 2020, but grew to over 2,000 by September 2020. The remand population has grown significantly since, and continues to drive the growth in the prison population. As of 1^st June 2023, it stands at 2,256 (29% of the total prison population).

Further detail on prison population

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In May 2023 (up until the morning of Thursday 1^st June 2023):

• the population increased by 115 to 7,703
• 2,256 were on remand: 1,883 (24%) untried & 373 (5%) awaiting sentence
• 64% of arrivals were untried (684 of 1,064), and 19% awaiting sentence (200)

While the overall prison population is lower than pre-pandemic levels, the number of people held on remand remains at a historic high. The changing population levels across groups that are required by law to be housed separately – like those on remand – pose difficulties in the management of the prison population.

The remand population grew during March through November 2021, exceeding its previous recorded peak. In line with previous years, overall numbers and remand populations fell during December 2021, hitting a low of 7,433 (2,061 remand) over Christmas before rebounding.

A similar pattern is observed over Christmas 2022, but in April and May 2023 the remand population continued to grow. On 30^th May 2023 it reached a new record high of 2,312 (30%).

Time on Remand to Date

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Among the 2,256 people on remand as of the morning of Thursday 1^st June 2023 , the median continuous time spent with this status to date was 72 days.

Note: The remand population includes individuals whose trial has commenced but not concluded, as well as those awaiting commencement of a trial. As a result, the figures referenced above reflect only that an individual has held the same status for an extended period, but do not reflect the relationship between these times on remand and the ongoing court procedure(s) to which they relate.

Remand Arrival Offences

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There were 832 remand arrivals to prison with known offence types in May, awaiting trial or sentence for the following alleged offences.

Note: Double-counting may occur where an individual arrives, is absent from prison for one or more nights in the month, and then returns before the end of the period. Where an individual has multiple alleged offence types in a single stint, the offence towards the top of the list in the chart is used as the index offence.