Scottish Prisons Assessment and Review of Outcomes for Women (SPAROW): full report

1. Introduction

This report presents findings from the Scottish Prison Service Assessment and Review of Outcomes for Women (SPAROW) evaluation, commissioned by the Scottish Government Justice Analytical Services. The primary purpose was to evaluate the early impact and emerging outcomes of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) new custodial arrangements for women and the application of the SPS Strategy for Women in Custody 2021-2025. This was carried out in the context of the recently established Community Custody Units (CCUs) which heralded a new approach to the custody of women in Scotland.

It is intended that findings from the evaluation will contribute to:

• the ongoing improvement of gender-specific and trauma-informed care and support for women in custody and on their return to the community;
• the continual support and professional development for SPS prison staff;
• the ongoing improvement of partnership working with SPS delivery partners to design and deliver appropriate services that are gender-specific and trauma-informed.

The evaluation commenced in May 2023 and research fieldwork in the CCUs was ongoing until February 2025.

The report is divided into 11 chapters. Following this introductory chapter, in Chapter 2 we comment on the wider contextualisation of women’s imprisonment in Scotland, noting, in particular, concern about the rate of female imprisonment and the impact of imprisonment on criminalised women in Scotland for over 30 years. We refer to the Scottish Prison Service Strategy for Women in Custody 2021-2025 and the evident commitment to women’s distinctive needs and circumstances and the nine key gender-sensitive and gender-informed principles which emerged. We also outline the concepts of gender-specificity and trauma-informed practice.

In Chapter 3, we describe the research aims and objectives, the research design, data collection and data analysis. This chapter also includes ethical considerations and limitations of the research. Chapter 4 turns to the vision and aspirations for the CCUs in terms of policy development and the selection of both staff and women for the CCUs. It also presents our summary of the implicit CCU Theory of Change (ToC) which drew on key policy documents pertinent to the CCUs and interviews with senior SPS policy and operational management. Chapter 5 describes how gender-specificity and trauma-informed principles have been translated and operationalised in the design of the CCUs and outlines the staffing and delivery partner arrangements. Chapter 6 describes the processes through which women were identified, assessed and selected for transfer to the CCUs from closed conditions. Using SPS data, we also describe the population of the CCUs in HMP Lilias and HMP Bella over time. Chapter 7 draws on observation and prison officer interviews to focus on the backgrounds and experiences of SPS staff working in the CCUs, how they describe the work that they do, and the challenges which they identified. We also present findings from interviews with prison officers working in a closed establishment focusing on whether and how gender-specific and trauma-informed principles have been implemented there.

Chapter 8 provides a detailed description of the views and experiences of the women residents living in the CCUs. Here we present their voices on daily life in the CCUs, and the ways in which they perceive their gendered needs and aspirations to be addressed. This reflects the data from fieldwork observation, interviews and arts-based workshops. This chapter also presents the views of women prisoners in a closed establishment.

Chapter 9 revolves around the aspirations and experiences of SPS delivery partners of providing services to women in the CCUs, and offering a direct link to the community. In Chapter 10, we draw together the research data generated across the separate phases of the study, reflect on whether and how the CCUs may be meeting their objectives, identify the obstacles that remain, and present a revised ToC. The concluding Chapter (11) summarises and reflects on good practices/successes and challenges/barriers to gender-sensitivity and trauma-informed practice in the women’s estate. This chapter also includes concluding reflections and recommendations.