Lord Advocate Elish Angiolini has today told the Equal Opportunities Committee that it should proceed with plans for an inquiry into women’s experiences with the criminal justice system. 

The Committee has been taking evidence as it considers whether to launch an inquiry into possible gender imbalances in the criminal justice system. One such imbalance highlighted by a number of witnesses is the fact that nearly all training and treatment programmes available in Scottish prisons are aimed at men.

Giving evidence to the Committee today, Angiolini said:

“I think there is real concern about the number of women in prison and their suffering. Is an inquiry justified? Yes it is.”

The Governor of Cornton Vale, Scotland’s only women’s prison, Ian Gunn, said that while such an inquiry was welcome, many male prisoners face the same issues as female prisoners.

“There are similar issues about the number of men coming to prison on short sentences with mental health and addiction issues. This should be about the number of people we send to prison.”