Justice Analytical Services - safer communities and justice statistics monthly report: May 2022 edition

This report provides, in a single place, a concise but comprehensive overview of a number of important justice and safer communities statistics. It covers many different topics including crime, policing, community safety, courts and prisons.

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Summary statistics on prisons

The prison population has risen from its lowest point at the end of May 2020. Daily population figures for Friday 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.

The population has since stabilised between 7,400 and 7,600 and was 7,412 on 25th April 2022. The remand population was at its lowest point of 1,114 on 27th April 2020, but grew to over 2,000 by September 2020.

The remand population has grown significantly since the pre-pandemic period, exceeding previous records in February 2022 to a new peak of 2,289 on the 8th. It has since fallen slightly to 2,183 on 25th April 2022 (29% of the overall prison population).

Weekly prison population on a Friday, excluding home detention curfew, published by the Scottish Prison Service, March 2018 onwards. Last updated May 2022. Next update due June 2022.

Contact

Email: Justice_Analysts@gov.scot

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