Prison overcrowding is a major problem throughout the United Kingdom, as is the deterioration of conditions in prisons.
Hundreds of detainees will soon be released from prison in Scotland, following entry into force of new legislation aimed at reducing prison overcrowding.
Nearly 400 prisoners who have served at least 40 % of a sentence of less than four years will be released over the next six weeks under this law. However, detainees convicted of domestic violence and sexual offenses will not be eligible.
The Scottish Parliament adopted this law last year to remedy the chronic crisis of prison overcrowding. Scottish prisons work far beyond their planned capacity of around 8,000 prisoners, and problems of violence, gangs and smuggling are increasingly difficult to fight.
The drug is A particularly serious problem in Scotland, which has long suffered from the worst drug crisis in Europe. Many convicts arrive in detention with consumption habits or links with gangs operating inside and outside prisons.
Prison overpopulation throughout the United Kingdom
Several hundred detainees also benefited from an early release from Scottish prisons last year, but new convictions quickly caused a new prison overcrowding.
The Scottish Minister of Justice, Angela Constance, believes that The question of overcrowding must be resolved in order to make room for dangerous criminals rather than offenders condemned for relatively minor crimes.
Many prisoners are also awaiting judgment by the Scottish courts, which are overloaded from business since the Pandemic of COVID-19.
Prison overcrowding is A major problem throughout the United Kingdom, as is the long-term general deterioration of conditions in prisonswith very publicized cases of escape and bad behavior of the prison personnel who drew public attention to the issue.
In September 2023, former soldier Daniel Khalife has briefly escaped from Wandsworth prison, one of the largest in the country, passing under a delivery truck. This same prison had another major scandal last year, when a video showed a prison guard with sex with an inmate in her cell.
The agent, who had been arrested as she was trying to leave the United Kingdom, has since been sentenced to a prison sentence.
