Key Findings

There are known discrepancies in the count of remand and sentenced populations between the data source used for these statistics and the live system data in other published sources.

These discrepancies arise from the classification heirarchy applied in the construction of the official statistics data. This is detailed in the Legal Status section of this report. Information presented on legal status should be interpreted alongside ‘live’ sources of data.

The official statistics give an overview of broad trends in the prison population. They are in line with other sources in their description of these high level trends. Other sources of information on the Scottish prison population provide a ‘live’ view with greater detail on prison population composition.

Prison populations

The average daily prison population (ADP) in 2024-25 was 8,216. This is an increase of 4.5% from 2023-24 (7,860) and is the highest ADP recorded, exceeding the previous recorded high of 2019-20 (8,198).

Growth in the ADP was driven primarily by growth in the average daily sentenced population (+5.8% to 6,367 in 2024-25).

Between 2023-24 and 2024-25, the largest increase in the average daily sentenced population was those serving sentences for index offences in Group 2: Sexual crimes (+14% to 1,614 in 2024-25). Together with the population serving sentences for index offences in Group 1: Non-sexual Crimes of Violence (+2% to 2,848 in 2024-25), these two groups account for a growing proportion of the overall average daily sentenced population (over 70% in 2024-25).

In the average daily sentenced population there were increases in all determinate index sentence groups in 2024-25.    The index sentence is the longest single sentence being served. Where a person in prison has multiple custodial sentences, the overall sentence length cannot be calculated from the available data. This is due to a lack of information as to whether multiple custodial sentences are to be served consecutively or concurrently. Where an individual is given multiple sentences to be served consecutively (a common occurrence with multiple short sentences), their overall sentence length will be longer than the index sentence. 

The largest increases occurred in the groups serving index sentences of 1 year or less (+15% to 1,099) and index sentences of 10 years or more (+15% to 393).   The share of the sentenced population serving shorter index sentences remains below pre-pandemic levels. In 2019-20, 53% of the sentenced population had index sentences of 4 years or less. In 2024-25 this proportion had fallen to 44%.

The overall average daily remand population remained stable between 2023-24 and 2024-25, at 1,797 (+1).  The index (alleged) offence profile also remained similar to the previous reporting year. The increase in the average daily sentenced population over the same period has meant that the proportion of the average daily prison population held on remand has fallen slightly in 2024-25 (from 23% to 22%). See Legal Status section of this report for explanation of these figures. 

The average daily population of women in prison increased by 8% in 2024-25 (from 319 in 2023-24 to 345). This is a greater rate of increase than the overall average daily prison population, although women still comprised just 4% of the prison population in 2024-25.

In line with the overall prison population, the increase in the average daily population of women has been driven by an increase in the sentenced population, which increased by 9% from 217 in 2023-24 to 235. The average daily convicted awaiting sentence population of women increased by just 8 to 37 and the average daily untried population of women remained at the same level as 2022-23 at 72. The proportion of women held on remand on an average day in 2024-25 was 31% (-1 percentage point from 2023-24).

The average daily population of young people (under 21 years) remained stable in 2024-25, increasing by less than 1% from the previous year and remaining far below historic levels. On an average day in 2024-25 there were 170 young people in prison in Scotland. The proportion of the average daily population of young people held on remand decreased 1 percentage point in 2024-25 to 35%.

The number of individuals who spent any time in prison increased by 3% in 2024-25 from 15,349 in 2023-24 to 15,792. Prior to the pandemic there was a long term downward trend in the numbers of individuals experiencing imprisonment, with a steep reduction in 2020-21. While the number of individual experiencing imprisonment in 2024-25 is greater than in the intervening reporting years, it remains 9% below pre-pandemic levels (17,312 in 2019-20).

The average age of individuals experiencing imprisonment continued to rise in 2024-25, reaching 38.2 years (compared to 33.4 years in 2013-14). Since 2009-10 the proportion of individuals aged 50 years or more experiencing imprisonment has more than doubled since 2009-10 - from 6.3% to 15.9% in 2024-25.

British nationals comprise over 90% of individuals experiencing imprisonment in Scotland in 2024-25. The proportion of individuals who are not British nationals has increased from 5% in 2017-18 to 9% in 2024-25.  Individuals from the European Economic Area comprise the largest non-British national group experiencing imprisonment in 2024-25 (627), a consistent pattern since 2010-11.

Prison flows

While the average daily prison population increased in 2024-25, the number of arrivals to custody was broadly stable compared with the previous reporting year. There were 11,499 arrivals to custody in 2024-25 (-1% from 11,648 in 2023-24). The number of arrivals remains considerably lower than pre-pandemic levels, down 20% from 2019-20 when it was 14,341.

By legal status, only arrivals to CAS increased (by 8%, +182 to 2,552) in 2024-25. Untried arrivals fell 5% (-310 to 6,636) and sentenced arrivals fell by 2% (-47 to 2,193) compared with the previous year.

There was a 2.2% increase in departures from custody to 11,357 in 2024-25. The number of departures from custody remains below pre-pandemic levels in 2024-25 (14,741 in 2019-20).

Median time on remand before departure remained at around 22 days in 2024-25, a consistent pattern since 2009-10. The longest periods spent on remand had been increasing over time, with a sharp increase during 2020-21. Time on remand peaked in 2022-23, with the longest 10% of stays before departure from remand taking 146 days or more. By 2024-25, the longest 10% of stays took 87 days or more. While this continues a falling trend (see Figure 30), it remains substantially longer than pre-pandemic.

The median time on remand before transition to the sentenced population peaked in in 2020-21 and 2021-22 at 57 days. In 2024-25, this fell to 43 days. The longest periods to transition to the sentenced population had been increasing over time. In 2019-20, 90% of transitions occurred within 145 days. Time to transition peaked in 2022-23 with 90% of transitions occurring within 289 days. By 2024-25 this had fallen to 275 days.

The overall volume of liberations from remand decreased by 7% from 5,125 in 2023-24 to 4,768. The number of liberations from remand to the court or procurator fiscal fell 8% from 4,031 in 2023-24 to 3,689. Transitions to the sentenced population increased by 9% to 4,456 over the same period but bail liberations fell slightly by 2% to 910.

There was a 10% increase in liberations from the sentenced population in 2024-25, from 5,891 in 2023-24 to 6,481.

An accredited official statistics publication for Scotland

These statistics are accredited official statistics. The Office for Statistics Regulation has independently reviewed and accredited these statistics as complying with the standards of trustworthiness, quality, and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics.

Compliance with the code of practice for Official Statistics was assessed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in January 2023[i]. A number of required actions were highlighted by the regulator to ensure this source meets the standards for accreditation. These actions were confirmed completed in a letter to the Chief Statistician in April 2023[ii]. The Scottish Government continues to improve and refine this source to ensure its trustworthiness, quality and value.

Accredited official statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.

Scottish Government statistics are regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.

More information about Scottish Government statistics is available on the Scottish Government website.