Commissioning HMP Inverclyde - Scottish Quaker Community Justice Network letter to Justice Secretary

Members of the Scottish Quaker Community Justice Network have written to Michael Matheson MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Justice, and Christine Grahame MSP, Convener of the Scottish Parliament's Justice Committee, in support of the Howard League Scotland’s call for a reversal of the decision to proceed with HMP Inverclyde as a 300-bed replacement for HMP Cornton Vale. The Community Justice Network supports the proposals of the Commission on Women Offenders for a much smaller women’s prison to house offenders whose offences are so grave and/or whose risk to others is so great that they cannot be incarcerated, while simultaneously addressing the social and psychological needs which typically underpin the behaviour of the most difficult and dangerous female offenders. Scottish Quakers share the Commission’s confidence that Scotland could and should deal effectively with the great majority of women offenders via existing forms of community supervision together with a new network of community-based support services.