Scottish Prisons Assessment and Review of Outcomes for Women (SPAROW): executive summary

Overview of participants and methods (see Chapter 3 in the full report)

A multi-method approach was adopted for the evaluation. Three periods of fieldwork were undertaken between August 2023 to the end of February 2025. The participants involved in the SPAROW research were as follows:

• Women in custody: 33 women living in the CCUs with different sentence-lengths: short-term, long-term or life/top-end, participated in interviews, arts-based workshops and photo-elicitation exercises.
• SPS staff: 40 officers (operational, residential, first line managers and unit managers) participated in interviews. Four strategic SPS managers who were all involved in the development of the CCUs were also interviewed.
• Delivery partners: views were sought through online surveys (a total of 28 responses), four small focus groups and five interviews.
• A small number of SPS staff (four) and women (six) living in a closed prison were also interviewed for purposes of comparison and context.

There were some limitations to the study which mainly revolved around organisational and operational access; a key limitation related to the constraints that operate within a prison setting – with locked doors and restricted areas. There were continuing debates over whether we, as researchers, were required to undertake the SPS Personal Protection Training (PPT). At various points during the study we were asked to present confirmation of PPT completion on arrival at the CCUs despite assurances at the beginning of the research period that this would not be necessary. This impacted upon our access to and movements within the CCUs, as different line managers held different views about whether or not we required it.

Women residents and CCU officers were always informed about our planned visits and wish to interview them. Once in the CCUs, we were often restricted to the Hub (the communal area within the CCUs) which was not conducive to conducting interviews as there were usually other women, visitors and/or activities taking place there. Where PPT was not raised as an issue, we were permitted to interview women one-to-one in an unoccupied side room, sometimes with an officer in the corridor. Women were always aware that they were under surveillance via CCTV cameras wherever they were in the CCU, and so this also tended to have an inhibiting effect.

Significant delays were experienced regarding the identification of and access other prison establishments to conduct interviews with SPS staff and women not working/residing in CCUs. Finally, there were difficulties in accessing relevant data concerning women’s journeys into and out of the CCUs.