More than a quarter of prisoners in Scottish jails last Christmas Day had not been convicted

dailyrecord.co.uk:

More than a quarter of the prisoners in Scotland last Christmas were on remand, new figures show. A freedom of information request found 2,062 people in the prison estate on Christmas Day 2021 had not been convicted of an offence.The figure equates to 28 per cent of the 7,434 prisoners.

The Scottish Government has committed to overhauling the bail system, through the Bail and Release from Custody (Scotland) Bill.That would require courts only to refuse bail to an accused person if they present harm to the community, or their release pending trial would present a “significant risk of prejudice to the interests of justice”.

The information request was made by the Scottish Liberal Democrats.Scottish Lib Dem justice spokesman Liam McArthur said: “Increasing numbers of people are being held on remand without a trial having taken place.

That’s bad for both the rights of the accused but also victims who are prevented from seeing justice done.“There are also a stubbornly high number of prisoners on short sentences.