Scottish Prisons Assessment and Review of Outcomes for Women (SPAROW): exploratory baseline study

Annex Three: Participant’s Equality Characteristics

This Annex provides more detail on the quality characteristics of women who participated in the baseline study. Where data was available^[33], comparisons are made to the women accommodated in the wider prison estate at the time of the baseline study (over the period of 337 days between Monday 1st August 2022 and Monday 3rd July 2023). This data is presented as the average daily prison population (ADP) of women at the time.

Number of Women who Participated in the Baseline Study: Over the period of the baseline study, a total of forty women moved from an older establishment to live in a Community Custody Unit. Nineteen women moved to the Bella CCU and twenty-one women moved to the Lilias CCU.

Of the forty women, thirty-four of these women participated in a pre-move survey (sharing their experiences of living in an older establishment), and twenty-three of these women then participated in a post-move survey (sharing their experiences of living in a CCU), as follows:

• All of the nineteen women who moved to the Bella CCU participated in the pre-move survey, and sixteen of these women continued to participate in the post-move survey.
• Fifteen women who had moved to the Lilias CCU participated in the pre-move survey, and seven of these women continued to participate in the post-move survey.

Further, three women who had moved to a CCU, returned to live in an older establishment^[34]. These women participated in a qualitative discussion, to share their experiences of living in a CCU. Two of these women had participated in a pre-move survey.

Age of Participants: Women were asked: “What is your age?” The average age of women who participated in the pre-move survey was 43.6 years old. The youngest participant was 23 and the oldest participant was 62 years old. The average age of women who participated in the post-move survey was 42.6 years old. The youngest participant was 23 and the oldest participant was 62 years old.

Table ADP below shows that over half of women in custody (170.3) at the time of the baseline study, were aged between 30-44 years old, slightly younger than the women who participated in the baseline study.

Table of Age (years) of average daily population of women in baseline period

16-17: 1.2

18-20: 5.6

21-22: 5.1

23-24: 12.2

25-29: 29.4

30-34: 55.7

35-39: 64.6

40-44: 50.0

45-49: 27.5

50-54: 21.1

55-59: 12.4

60-64: 5.4

65-69: 2.1

Health Condition or Illness: Women were asked: “Do you have any physical or mental health conditions or illnesses lasting (or expected to last) 12 months or more?” Most women said they had a physical or mental health condition.

Of the 34 women who participated in the pre-move survey, 27 women said Yes they had a physical or mental health condition or illness, 5 women said No (one woman preferred not to say, and 1 answer was missing).

Of the 23 women who participated in the post-move survey, 16 women said Yes they had a physical or mental health condition or illness, 4 women said No (one woman preferred not to say, and 2 answers were missing).

Transgender: Women were asked: “Do you consider yourself to be trans, or have a trans history?” No women considered themselves as trans or having a trans history.

Sexual Orientation: Women were asked to identify their sexual orientation. Most women identified as straight/ heterosexual. In the pre-move survey, 29 women identified as straight/heterosexual and 19 women identified this in the post-move survey.

From the average daily population of women data over the time of the baseline study, most women identified as heterosexual (215.3), and 37.7 identified as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual (LGB) and Other, and 39.4 were undisclosed.

Ethnic Group: Women were asked: “What is your ethic group?”. Most women identified as White Scottish.

In the pre-move survey 31 women identified as White Scottish and 21 women identified with this Ethnic Group in the post-move survey.

From the average daily population of women data over the time of the baseline study, most women also identified as White Scottish (279.5).

Religion: Women were asked: “What religion, religious denomination or body do you belong to?” Half of the women identified with a religion and half did not. In the pre-move survey, 17 women said none, 5 women said Church of Scotland, 9 women said Roman Catholic, 1 woman said Christian, and one woman preferred not to say (1 answer was missing). In the post-move survey, 13 women said none, 6 said Roman Catholic, and 3 women said Church of Scotland (2 answers were missing).

Sentence Band: SPS provided the JAS researcher with sentence bands of the women living in the CCUs. Most women (19) were serving short-term sentences; five women were serving long-term sentences, and nine women were serving life sentences. See the Table below.

Table of Sentence band in average daily population of women during baseline period

Sentence / Average Daily Population (women)

Remand: 106.6

Short: <= 1 year: 41.4

Short: < 4 years: 62.2

Long: 4 - 10 years: 29.9

Long: 10+ years: 2.0

Life: 42.4

OLR/IPP: <5

(Missing): 6.9