ISBN 978 1 78045 280 7
DPPAS 11819
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Contents
Executive Summary.
1. Introduction.
Background and Aims of the Research.
Organisation of the Report
2. Methodology and Research Design.
Statistical Analysis.
Qualitative Analysis.
Cost Analysis.
3. HDC and Open Prison as Forms of Conditional Liberty.
Overview of Existing Research.
Overview of Use.
4 Home Detention Curfew.
Statistical Analysis of HDC.
Qualitative Analysis of HDC.
Views of Other Stakeholders.
Offender Perspectives.
Family Perspectives.
HDC Summary.
5. The Open Estate.
Statistical Analysis of the Open Estate.
Qualitative Analysis of the Open Estate.
Open Estate Summary.
6. Costs of HDC and Open Prison.
Cost Savings Produced by HDC.
Open Estate Costs.
7. Areas for Development.
Reintegration.
Managing Prison Populations.
Interagency Coordination and Control
Safety and Risk.
Annex A HDC Decisions July 2006 - March 2010.
Annex B Interview Guides.
Annex C Models of Providing Support while on HDC: Case Study of Pilot Involving 16 and 17 Year-olds
Annex D Community Work Placements at HMP Castle Huntly.
Annex E References.
List of Figures and Tables
Figure 3.1: Average Daily Population on HDC and in the Open Estate 2006 to 2010. 21
Figure 4.1: Number of Prisoners Released on HDC 2006 to 2010. 24
Figure 4.2: Total Number of HDC Releases 2006 to 2010, by Establishment 26
Figure 4.3: Ratio of HDC Releases to Average Daily Population 2006 to 2010, by Establishment 27
Figure 4.4: HDC Refusal Decisions 2006 to 2010. 30
Figure 4.5: Reasons for Pre-process HDC Refusals 2006 to 2010. 32
Figure 4.6: Reasons for In Process Refusals 2006 to 2010. 32
Figure 4.7: HDC In Process Refusals pre and post mid 2008, by Establishment 36
Figure 4.8: HDC Ratio of Releases to In Process Refusals pre and post mid 2008, by Establishment 36
Figure 4.9: HDC Recall Rate 2006 to 2010, by Establishment 39
Figure 4.10: Predicted Proportion of Licences Successfully Completed by Length of HDC Licence. 41
Figure 4.11: HDC Releases by Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation Ranking, July through December 2008 42
Figure 5.1: Average Daily Population and Admissions to Open Estate 2006 to 2010. 70
Figure 5.2: Age Profile of Those Admitted to the Open Estate 2006 to 2010. 73
Figure 5.3: Proportion of Those Admitted to the Open Estate Serving Sentences of 4 Years and Over 74
Figure 5.4: Total Number of Transfers to Open Estate 2006 to 2010 by Closed Establishment 75
Figure 5.5: Ratio of Open Estate Transfers to Average Daily Population 2006 to 2010 by Closed Establishment 76
Figure 5.6: Total Absconds from the Open Estate 2006 to 2010. 77
Table 3.1: Comparison of Selected Variables of HDC and Open Prison Use, 2006-2010. 22
Table 4.1 Summary of Key Aspects of HDC Use in Scotland 2006-2010. 23
Table 4.2: HDC Releases 2006 to 2010, by Prisoner Gender, Age, Main Offence and Sentence Length. 25
Table 4.3: HDC Releases 2006 to 2010 by Community Justice Authority Area. 28
Table 4.4: Reasons for In Process Refusal of HDC 2006 to 2010. 31
Table 4.5: Comparison of HDC In Process Refusals and Release Rates before and after mid 2008. 34
Table 4.6: Reasons for Recall among Prisoners on HDC 2006 to 2010. 37
Table 4.7: Characteristics of Individuals Recalled from HDC and Associated Recall Rates. 38
Table 4.8: Regression Models of the Proportion of HDC Licences Completed to Overall Length of an Licence Period. 40
Table 4.9: Comparison of SIMD Domains for Those Completing versus Recalled from HDC. 42
Table 4.10 Maximum HDC licence and custody periods for different sentence lengths. 44
Table 5.1: Time Spent in the Open Estate for Those Admitted Between 2006 and 2010. 71
Table 5.2: Open Estate Transfers 2006 to 2010 by Prisoner Age, Main Offence and Sentence Length. 72
Table 5.3: Time Served in Open Estate Prior to Abscond 2006 to 2010. 78
Table 6.1: Notional Savings of HDC Compared to Prison, by Different Lengths of HDC Release. 93
Acknowledgements
This research was made possible by the cooperation and helpfulness of a wide range of people involved in the operation of HDC or open prisons. We would like to thank all of them for their deeply appreciated assistance to this project.
On the Open Estate, we are indebted to the entire management team who facilitated our visits, provided access to staff and were open in their assessment of the strengths and challenges of their work. We are particularly grateful to the staff and prisoners who took the time share their considered views. We learned an immense amount from these encounters.
For the qualitative research on HDC we would like to thank all of the prison staff who spoke with us, providing copious and frank views about operations. We are also very grateful to Criminal Justice Social Work staff who agreed to be interviewed and found time in extremely busy schedules to meet, as well as the many stakeholders how conveyed their views to us.
Thanks also to the Research Advisory Group set up for this research, which includes the Scottish Government managers of the study, who were helpful in identifying contacts and facilitating access. We are especially grateful to Helen Biggar, who extracted the data for the statistical analysis and whose knowledge of the datasets proved invaluable.
Within SCCJR we thank Karen Hegyi and Tim McBride for coordinating the work of transcribing interviews, and generally supporting this project.